And Now Basically Everyone In This LEGO Dispute Looks Sketchy | Techdirt https://www.techdirt.com/ • • Sign In (https://www.techdirt.com/my-account/) • Register (https://www.techdirt.com/register/) • Preferences (https://www.techdirt.com/preferences/) Techdirt - [x] • TechDirt (https://www.techdirt.com/) • GreenHouse (https://www.techdirt.com/edition/greenhouse/) • Free Speech (https://www.techdirt.com/edition/freespeech/) • Error 402 (https://www.techdirt.com/edition/webmonetization/) • Ctrl-Alt-Speech (https://www.techdirt.com/edition/ctrlaltspeech/) • Deals (https://deals.techdirt.com/) • Jobs (https://jobs.techdirt.com/) • Support Techdirt (https://www.techdirt.com/support/) https://www.techdirt.com/blog/podcast/ Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Cupertino d’État (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/ctrl-alt-speech-cupertino-detat/) American Diabetes Association Fucked Up Real Bad Trying To Placate Trump Administration (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/american-diabetes-association-fucked-up-real-bad-trying-to-placate-trump-administration/) And Now Basically Everyone In This LEGO Dispute Looks Sketchy https://www.techdirt.com/?s&topic=timewaster Too Much Free Time (https://www.techdirt.com/?s&topic=timewaster) from the it-only-gets-worse dept Fri, Jun 12th 2026 04:33pm - Mike Masnick (https://www.techdirt.com/user/mmasnick/) A couple weeks ago I wrote 6,000 words about the Reckless Ben/Bricks & Minifigs LEGO mess (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/02/everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-should-have-spoken-to-a-lawyer-earlier-than-they-did/) and concluded that pretty much everyone involved had made serious mistakes — with the Utah contingent (Bricks & Minifigs corporate, Joshua Johnson, Brandon Best, and the American Fork police) looking the worst of all. That take upset basically everyone: some felt I was too hard on Reckless Ben, some felt I was too easy on the American Fork police, and probably a few people just resented spending that much time reading about legos. Since then, a lot more has come out, and the situation has only gotten murkier. My original read still holds up, but the Utah folks look even worse, and some of the other players are looking sketchier too. And, I think it’s fair to say, mistakes were made by pretty much everyone involved. Just as before, many of the new details are in long YouTube videos, but if you want watch just one, start with this one by Stephen Findeisen, who is better known as Coffeezilla and who regularly researches financial and cryptocurrency scams: Video 5 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKfQkRbd15k) That video goes deep — Findeisen gets basically everyone on the phone at some point or another (except the cops), accesses a ton of evidence not previously public, and, unlike most of the earlier YouTube coverage, actually tries to find the truth instead of just stoking outrage. He makes a few points that are hard to argue with: • The Lego collection was never actually worth $200k (we had suggested this in our initial post as well). It was probably closer to $100k (and possibly a bit less). • Some of it was definitely sold before all this, but much of it had not been. • Plenty of it clearly remained in the store after Brandon Best showed up the night in November 2024 to kick out Law and take over the store. • Best also showed up with a U-Haul truck, and there are some (slightly conflicting) reports that he subsequently appeared at his other Oregon Bricks & Minifigs store with a bunch of Star Wars Lego sets. Bricks & Minifigs corporate initially insisted this was false and said he showed up in a rental car. But Coffeezilla has visual proof of a U-Haul parked outside that night, which is pretty damning, which led Bricks & Minifigs to revise their story with a complicated one about hauling a camper trailer, which doesn’t make that much sense. • Coffeezilla dropped this thread, in part because of a disagreement over the timeline, though it’s not clear to me that the timeline doesn’t really line up. It seems entirely possible that Best could have taken a bunch of legos out of the Gormans’ old store and taken them to his other store and then returned the U-Haul truck. • Law & Gorman appear to have sold some of Mansell’s collection and not paid him for that, and it could be a lot of money. Law admits that she may have been a bit sloppy on the record keeping, saying she hadn’t done an inventory in a while and suggesting employees maybe hadn’t told her when certain sets from the collection were sold. But there’s also a credibility problem regarding sets that were listed as being on layaway, but where the spreadsheet suggests they were actually sold, but not accounted for as sold. • To her credit, she admits it’s possible she owes Mansell some money and that if she can see evidence of this she will make sure that Mansell is paid what he is owed. But given how quick the Gormans were to insist this was entirely Bricks & Minifigs corporate who were the problem, it’s not a good look. • Bricks & Minifigs corporate claims that there were about $5k worth of Star Wars legos left. That appears to be bullshit and wouldn’t really help their case, because even if it was just $5k of Mansell’s legos, those are still stolen legos. • Bricks & Minifigs’ CEO and COO (the McNeff brothers) claim that they never were sent a spreadsheet of the collections, and the best moment in the video is when Coffeezilla points out that the Google Docs spreadsheet he’s been using is owned by their account and has been sitting there since 2024. That really makes the McNeffs look sketchy. That video also includes dueling photographic and videographic evidence of what was in the store the night Best kicked the Gormans out (as well as a few weeks earlier when Best apparently surreptitiously filmed inside the store to see what was there). There are way more empty shelves the night Best kicked out Law & Gorman, but they say that’s because they had moved the high value consignment items to the safes they had purchased for that purpose, which were in the back. Later in the video Coffeezilla shows the McNeffs additional images from Law that appear to show Star Wars lego sets in what appears to be a safe, and which Matt McNeff (the company’s COO) admits they don’t appear to have listed in their own spreadsheet, which they had originally said was a complete listing of all the Star Wars legos in the store the night they took it over. The McNeffs still look terrible, and Brandon Best also looks a bit sketchy. But it also appears that Law & Gorman’s record keeping was pretty sketchy as well, and while the McNeffs have gone overboard in claiming that they were responsible for Mansell’s “missing” legos, it does appear likely that Law owes Mansell for a decent number of Star Wars legos her store sold. As for the American Fork Police department and Brandon Best’s partner, Joshua Johnson, we need a different video, this one from Legal Eagle. It breaks down just how many things they did wrong: Video 6 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P36bPNMxIM) There were a lot of assumptions made about the police department, particularly around how they redacted the footage they released to Schneider. There was plenty of smoke, but no actual fire. As it turns out, beyond possibly being corrupt, the American Fork Police Department might also just be incompetent: they accidentally uploaded all the unredacted bodycam footage, which is now available on the Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/american-fork-bodycam-unredacted). Schneider initially claimed a hacker obtained the videos, which raised some questions about provenance. Once the department itself admitted the release was accidental, that question went away — and what’s in the footage is pretty hard to explain away. The police were way too credulous with Johnson. The “refusing to accept service” situation alone is maddening: Johnson claims the lawsuits are fake, the officer calls the court and confirms they’re real, and then… still lets Johnson refuse service. Beyond that, there are the extended traffic stops on no real probable cause, and the arrests on a search warrant instead of an arrest warrant — and they didn’t even find what they were looking for. Legal Eagle walks through all of it, and it’s a long list of failures. Schneider is a more complicated case. He’s clearly one of the good guys here, and the attention he generated did move the needle when nothing else was. But some of his own claims haven’t held up. He never independently verified the value of the collection — and in the Coffeezilla video, he appears genuinely surprised it’s nowhere near $200k, which is a bad look for someone who made that figure central to his coverage. The small claims court situation is worse: Schneider said Johnson and Best had defaulted on those cases, but they were basically all dismissed (https://www.reddit.com/r/legocirclejerk/comments/1tt55jv/does_anyone_know_what_court_case_ben_won/) for being filed against the wrong defendants, or never properly served. In a followup video, Reckless Ben admits he thought he’d won by default simply because he and his friends filed for default. Which goes back to the original point: talk to a lawyer, even just for an hour. The Mexico situation is its own category of self-inflicted damage. In multiple videos he’s mentioned that after facing criminal charges he had fled to Mexico and joked about how Utah law enforcement can’t reach him there. Whether or not he actually left the country, publicly bragging about being a flight risk while facing criminal charges is exactly the kind of thing that hands prosecutors an easy argument. He has real defenses available to him. This doesn’t help. And then there’s Law & Gorman, who aren’t villains, but they aren’t blameless either. It appears Law owes Mansell for a fair number of sets her store sold without paying him out — and the record-keeping problems aren’t fully explained by sloppy bookkeeping. The layaway-versus-sold discrepancy in the spreadsheet is a credibility problem, not just an accounting one. To her credit, Law has said she’ll make it right if shown the evidence. But the Gormans were also quick to frame this entire situation as purely a Bricks & Minifigs corporate problem, and that framing looks increasingly incomplete. Every side of this story is a disaster. We’ve got a corporation willing to say anything to save face, a police department that accidentally leaked its own bad behavior, franchise owners who likely shortchanged their client, and a YouTuber whose good intentions were undercut by bad execution. About the only thing missing is anyone who actually handled this well. Filed Under: american fork pd (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/american-fork-pd/), ammon mcneff (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/ammon-mcneff/), ben schneider (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/ben-schneider/), benjamin gorman (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/benjamin-gorman/), bryan mansell (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/bryan-mansell/), chrystal law (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/chrystal-law/), consignment (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/consignment/), legos (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/legos/), matt mcneff (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/matt-mcneff/), reckless ben (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/reckless-ben/), utah (https://www.techdirt.com/tag/utah/) Companies: bricks & minifigs (https://www.techdirt.com/company/bricks-minifigs/) https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/https://reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techdirt.com%2F2026%2F06%2F12%2Fand-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy%2F&title=And%20Now%20Basically%20Everyone%20In%20This%20LEGO%20Dispute%20Looks%20Sketchyhttps://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techdirt.com%2F2026%2F06%2F12%2Fand-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy%2F&text=And%20Now%20Basically%20Everyone%20In%20This%20LEGO%20Dispute%20Looks%20Sketchy&via=Techdirthttps://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techdirt.com%2F2026%2F06%2F12%2Fand-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy%2F&t=And%20Now%20Basically%20Everyone%20In%20This%20LEGO%20Dispute%20Looks%20Sketchyhttps://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&ro=false&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techdirt.com%2F2026%2F06%2F12%2Fand-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy%2F&title=And%20Now%20Basically%20Everyone%20In%20This%20LEGO%20Dispute%20Looks%20Sketchy 14 Comments (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comments)Leave a Comment (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comments) If you liked this post, you may also be interested in... • Everyone In This LEGO Dispute Should Have Spoken To A Lawyer Earlier Than They Did (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/02/everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-should-have-spoken-to-a-lawyer-earlier-than-they-did/) • Utah Wants Websites To See Through VPNs. 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Anonymous Coward says: June 12, 2026 at 4:59 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394034) Legos? “… and probably a few people just resented spending that much time reading about legos.” No, actually, what really tans our hide is using the word “legos”. LEGO is a plural noun – you’d bug us pedants (and LEGO fans) as much as if you said “sheeps” or “Attornies Generals”. YW. This comment is new since your last visit. Threaded [2] Stephen T. Stone(profile) (https://www.techdirt.com/user/regularstone/)says: June 12, 2026 at 7:06 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394183) Re: Everyone says “Legos” regardless of what the company says. Anyone who is so anal about the name of toy bricks that they whine about someone not getting corporate terminology exactly correct needs a life. This comment is new since your last visit. Threaded [3] drew(profile) (https://www.techdirt.com/user/blinddrew/)says: June 12, 2026 at 7:09 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394190) Re: Re: “Everyone…” In the US. It sounds really weird on the other side of the pond. This comment is new since your last visit. Threaded [4] Anonymous Coward says: June 12, 2026 at 9:47 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394416) Re: Re: Re: And calling undergarments ‘pants’ sounds pretty weird on our side of the pond. Don’t even get me started with calling self adhesive bandages ‘plasters’ and flashlights ‘electric torches’. This comment is new since your last visit. Threaded [2] Mike Masnick(profile) (https://www.techdirt.com/user/mmasnick/)says: June 12, 2026 at 11:01 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394598) Re: As I said to someone on Bluesky, I decided long ago that I’m not here to go with the Lego company’s marketing. I’m going to communicate clearly and it’s better to say “legos.” This comment is new since your last visit. Riane Raine says: June 12, 2026 at 5:06 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394041) Yup. I’m from the PNW and a bunch of stuff immediately seemed odd to me about the reporting on this and the ways people were behaving. The biggest thing to me that I haven’t seen anywhere outside the first techdirt article was that Law and Gorman were planning on leaving the country after the November 2024 election. Everything after that point made a lot more sense to me, and a whole lot of the details and claims from various parties have just confirmed in my mind that all of this has been weird and disingenuous I have thoughts and opinions about even the Mancells at this point but I’m waiting to see what comes out going forward because all of this is just stupid and could have resolved much more easily if they hadn’t gotten an insane and unhinged YouTuber involved. This comment is new since your last visit. Stephen T. Stone(profile) (https://www.techdirt.com/user/regularstone/)says: June 12, 2026 at 5:09 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394045) All this over some plastic bricks. It almost makes the Prenda disaster seem quaint in comparison. This comment is new since your last visit. Threaded [2] Anonymous Coward says: June 12, 2026 at 9:40 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394399) Re: You’d appreciate the difference more if you stepped on a Prenda lawsuit in the middle of the night while going to get a drink from the fridge. This comment is new since your last visit. Anonymous Coward says: June 12, 2026 at 5:14 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394052) I mean. Why are you both siding this? On one hand you have people who didn’t do the best. On the other you have cops that comments call out for having time for this while they ignore women getting stalked until they get killed. Then you have a whole shady corporation that could have solved all this by not being lying ass hats and instead made themselves at best like they were trying to cover up and hide crimes. Some people made mistakes, others lied, abused their government power, and likely committed what would be felonies if it wasn’t a business. This comment is new since your last visit. Threaded [2] Mike Masnick(profile) (https://www.techdirt.com/user/mmasnick/)says: June 12, 2026 at 11:02 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394604) Re: I mean. Why are you both siding this? It’s called… accurately discussing. I’m not “both siding.” That means something different. The whole point is that I’m calling out the sketchy behavior of everyone involved… because they all did sketchy things. I make it clear who comes out of this looking worse. Did you… want me to lie to you? This comment is new since your last visit. Anonymous Coward says: June 12, 2026 at 5:56 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394092) I hope every one involved gets stepped on by everyone involved at this point. This comment is new since your last visit. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it. Anonymous Coward says: June 12, 2026 at 6:27 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394120) I have no idea about his lego thing, no opinion really. I only know that you are adding nothing to it. This comment is new since your last visit. Demoy says: June 12, 2026 at 10:39 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394540) The Lawaway thing isn't Sketchy Since the Coffee video launched some people dug up an old police report about the original dispute where Brandon told a police officer that most of the things in the store left behind were marked for consignment, but coffee’s video they claim it was only 2 to 3 things so they clearly stole the consigned good. Luckily the police included this seemingly minor detail at the time in his police report. Also a scalpers speculate the reason there was so much layaway including layingaway the same items multiple times was that Crystal only required a $10 deposit and would hold items upto one month then issue refund so scalpers were putting the most desirable items on consignment then placing third party listing online intending to only purchase the items if they find a buyer who would pay more (so drop shipping). Crystal too naive in business so she didn’t realized she was being taken advantage of. She seems like such a nice person I hope she never finds out what happened This comment is new since your last visit. Threaded [2] Mike Masnick(profile) (https://www.techdirt.com/user/mmasnick/)says: June 12, 2026 at 11:04 pm (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#comment-5394609) Re: Yes, she claimed she only required the $10 deposit in that video. But the spreadsheet shows much higher numbers — including the full price of some of the sets. That’s what’s sketchy. Close • says: https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/# Add Your Comment Cancel reply (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#respond) Your email address will not be published.Required fields are marked * Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now (https://www.techdirt.com/my-account/?redirect_to=https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/12/and-now-basically-everyone-in-this-lego-dispute-looks-sketchy/#respond). Want one? Register here (https://www.techdirt.com/register/) Name Email • Subscribe to the Techdirt Daily (https://listserv.techdirt.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/list/techdirt/) newsletter URL Subject Comment * Comment Options: Use markdown (https://commonmark.org/help/). Use plain text. Make this the First Word or Last Word. No thanks. 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They flout all laws and regulations. • aabsurdity:They will be stopped. • They're simply choosing to escalate rather than retreat. It will not end well for them. • Leah Abram:In lighter stories • I just found out that there's fan-fiction of The Maltese Falcon that actually resolves the story with closure: https://www.amazon.com/Return-Ma...https://www.amazon.com/Return-Maltese-Falcon-Allan-Collins/ (https://www.amazon.com/Return-Maltese-Falcon-Allan-Collins/) • I The Public Domain! • BentFranklin:If Trump runs for a third term let's nominate Obama to run against him. • Leah Abram:[[gifv]https://tenor.com/view/do-it-star-wars-emperor-palpatine-palpatine-gif-7523581979863470761](https://tenor.com/view/do-it-star-wars-emperor-palpatine-palpatine-gif-7523581979863470761) • BentFranklin:Trump Tower Tehran: you heard it here first • tomacamot:I wish I hadn't • candescence:So the judge for that $10b IRS Trump case agreed to reopen it. • https://thehill.com/regulation/c...https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5902065-trump-irs-lawsuit-reopened/ (https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5902065-trump-irs-lawsuit-reopened/) • imatool13:I imagined all roads would lead to this anyway, just didn't assume this quickly. • John Roddy:Not quite • More like dragging the plaintiff back into court to explain • aabsurdity:Bluesky's new moderation system silencing entire accounts for posting adult content is pretty bleak. :( • https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc...https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:34ydeurdtukrpzjjelklch4y/post/3mn5p4mttas22 (https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:34ydeurdtukrpzjjelklch4y/post/3mn5p4mttas22)https://bsky.app/profile/teethgr...https://bsky.app/profile/teethgrip.bsky.social/post/3mn4kej3ctk2q (https://bsky.app/profile/teethgrip.bsky.social/post/3mn4kej3ctk2q) • John Roddy:All right, so who's going to be the one to write about Clarence Thomas's blog post in today's order list? • That last paragraph is just too perfect • intelati:What. What a cursed sentence/timeline • https://bsky.app/profile/mjsdc.b...https://bsky.app/profile/mjsdc.bsky.social/post/3mna7cn7lpc2j (https://bsky.app/profile/mjsdc.bsky.social/post/3mna7cn7lpc2j) • Oh. • aabsurdity:Thomas evidently spending so much time wearing his klan hood, nobody's had the heart to tell him he's black... • Mike Masnick:there was that biographer of thomas who says he's actually never given up his black radical past, but believes that the only way for Black radicalism to succeed is to remove any and all attempts to help the Black community so that they have to do it entirely on their own. A kind of accelerationist argument • John Roddy:This is why I tell people they're missing the point when they suggest that he's reaching for another Plessy v Fergusson • Nah. More like Prigg v Pennsylvania. • candescence:https://bsky.app/profile/justinb...https://bsky.app/profile/justinbaragona.bsky.social/post/3mnaqomeegc26 (https://bsky.app/profile/justinbaragona.bsky.social/post/3mnaqomeegc26) • Yeah, ngl this is legitimately an ass-backwards change that defeats the point of putting content filters in the hands of users and kinda punishes users for correctly marking posts as NSFW https://bsky.app/profile/chocomi...https://bsky.app/profile/chocomingo.bsky.social/post/3mmz2dycdjk2v (https://bsky.app/profile/chocomingo.bsky.social/post/3mmz2dycdjk2v) • Leah Abram:Agreed. Bluesky enshittified itself. • (I don't know if Mr. C. Doctorow would agree with my usage of that term, though) • John Roddy:They already started rolling it back • Leah Abram:Wait, what? BlueSky disenshittified themselves? • John Roddy:They seemed to be genuinely shocked by the backlash. • I don't understand how • Leah Abram:So Trumpy rolled back his $1.8B IRS scam and BlueSky walked back their enshittifying changes? • Am I feeling…pride? • [[gifv]https://klipy.com/gifs/what-nani-1](https://klipy.com/gifs/what-nani-1) • John Roddy:Mamdani suspended bedtimes • candescence:Must've been a well-intentioned change that the staff really did not think through • But they really should stop with these sudden changes without community input • John Roddy:That's what gets me. BlueSky is one of the very few startups that genuinely took moderation and trust& safety serious from day one • How did they walk into such an obvious backlash like this? • aabsurdity:There were reports that one of the people affected was given a 22 day timer, shown on posts. Because your entire post history dissolves into chastity after 22 days somehow, I guess? • Bluesky moderation has stepped on a few rakes, but this really scared the whole artist community, given all the NSFW and SFW creators whose lives and livelihoods were decimated by PayPal in recent months. • https://bsky.app/profile/safety....https://bsky.app/profile/safety.bsky.app/post/3mnb7cza5yc2g (https://bsky.app/profile/safety.bsky.app/post/3mnb7cza5yc2g) I really could do without the idea that the concept of humans having bodies is inherently harmful to people until they turn 18. • Generations of kids have been taught how to deal with being on fire, but nobody wants to have a talk with their kids about other people because it's icky. • benv0727:Today, I joined @IJM to call for the Senate to immediately hold a vote on my STOP CSAM Act—which advanced unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Children need protections from predators on the internet, and this bill is an essential first step. There is no more time for delay. • https://x.com/i/status/206185715...https://x.com/i/status/2061857154957468115 (https://x.com/i/status/2061857154957468115) • aabsurdity:If you're quoting someone, it's generally accepted that you will use quote marks to indicate this. • BentFranklin:Microsoft CEO: We’re moving from OS and apps to agents instead • https://9to5mac.com/2026/06/02/m...https://9to5mac.com/2026/06/02/microsoft-ceo-were-moving-from-os-and-apps-to-agents-instead/ (https://9to5mac.com/2026/06/02/microsoft-ceo-were-moving-from-os-and-apps-to-agents-instead/) • . • Mike Masnick:at some point i'm going to write something about this, but an agentic-first computing paradigm really would fuck up all the efforts to age gate the internet... so I get why people don't like it for the AI of it all, but there are some interesting side effects • John Roddy:I know it usually misses the point to investigate how it would break once it's been established that the break is inevitable. But hey, that's still fascinating to weirdos like me. • Also, Matt Taibbi is appealing his defamation loss to the 2nd Circus. • Get in, losers. We're going losing! • candescence:https://bsky.app/profile/yashara...https://bsky.app/profile/yasharali.bsky.social/post/3mndxlp273d2g (https://bsky.app/profile/yasharali.bsky.social/post/3mndxlp273d2g) • https://bsky.app/profile/justinb...https://bsky.app/profile/justinbaragona.bsky.social/post/3mndxll2mvk2l (https://bsky.app/profile/justinbaragona.bsky.social/post/3mndxll2mvk2l) • Nick Bilton is a thin-skinned stooge. • Mike Masnick:meanwhile... [[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36jxNeV5L1Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36jxNeV5L1Q) • aabsurdity:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3...https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3fS5NyKzygU (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3fS5NyKzygU) • Seems to be a decent summary. • Leah Abram:I concur. • imatool13:@Mike Masnick with the prolifieration of Agents is MCP (mixed with skills) protocol above platform? Seems a whole lot of companies open themselves up to AI Agents more than just integrations, curious your thoughts. • BentFranklin:I didn't think we were ever going to get the Musk versus Zuckerberg slapfight we were promised, but now that we will have a cage right there, it would be wasteful not to use it at least a few more times before dismantling it. • aabsurdity:Especially now that Trump wants to keep it forever as a commemoration of his bestest and happiest birthday, like the Eiffel Tower. • intelati:What the [[article]https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/06/03/trump-ufc-arena-white-house-claw-permanent/90387950007/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/06/03/trump-ufc-arena-white-house-claw-permanent/90387950007/) I hate this timeline • aabsurdity:It's amazing how Trump does not, and never has, and never will, have any class whatsoever. He genuinely cannot see the difference between the engineering marvel of the Eiffel Tower, and a commonplace (though still a significant technical achievement in its way) lighting scaffold. They're both made of metal. • BentFranklin:How long until his ballroom guests mosey over after dinner to watch gladiators fight to the death with Trump having the final say with or ? • aabsurdity:I can't imagine he'd be interested. He'd have to be able to care if people other than himself are alive or dead. • intelati:Not this bout. The next one is a 50/50 shot. And increasing therein • BentFranklin:You know how mobsters will make you do a crime before they can trust you? So they will always have something on you? I think about that whenever someone says "I was just Epstein's lawyer," or broker, or anything significant. • John Roddy:I someone describe the BAM article as "climbing Mount Masnick" • And my brain immediately did the movie trailer guy voice for "from the makers of Driving Ms Daisy" • Leah Abram:Maybe it’s because of where I live but when I see “BAM” I think “Brooklyn Academy of Music” • aabsurdity:[[link]https://fxbsky.app/profile/presidentkelly.blacksky.app/post/3mnkf25iyjs2s](https://fxbsky.app/profile/presidentkelly.blacksky.app/post/3mnkf25iyjs2s)[[article]https://fxbsky.app/profile/yeti-detective.bsky.social/post/3mnkhrida222h](https://fxbsky.app/profile/yeti-detective.bsky.social/post/3mnkhrida222h) AI hiring screeners apparently retaining their rejection score for applicants across multiple different jobs, at all the companies they service, for nearly a year. So, get rejected for one job, basically you're unhireable by any company that also uses that tool, for any position, for the next 330 days. That's... Pretty dang bad if true... • BentFranklin:The Smart TV in Your Living Room Is a Node in the AI Scraping Economy • [[article]https://blog.includesecurity.com/2026/06/the-smart-tv-in-your-livingroom-is-a-node-in-the-aiscraping-economy/](https://blog.includesecurity.com/2026/06/the-smart-tv-in-your-livingroom-is-a-node-in-the-aiscraping-economy/) • Leah Abram:This is why Dumb TVs are a smart option! • I want a TV dumber than Pete Hegseth! • tomacamot:Or simply don't connect your TV to the Internet • candescence:Scott Pelley is now free to shit on his former bosses and tell the world how much of a propaganda rag CBS is becoming: https://youtu.be/ePqdmbgQ4BI?si=...https://youtu.be/ePqdmbgQ4BI?si=DZq7rY81Ur9IcKUt (https://youtu.be/ePqdmbgQ4BI?si=DZq7rY81Ur9IcKUt) • Quotes include "Bari Weiss Emailed my Boss and asked 'Can you make the protestors look more violent?'" and "Can you describe Renee Good as 'driving at the officer'?" • This is why you don't fire people who know where the bodies are buried. • aabsurdity:Someone said something today that I genuinely hadn't considered, which was the idea that this isn't an anti-journalism conservative deliberately torching a journalistic institution because the money they're spending doesn't mean anything any more, or that the death of CBS is simply advantageous, and instead that this is a project someone believes in and thinks it's going to work. And I have to admit that I didn't even see that as a possibility, but now that I have, that might make it worse. • Mike Masnick:Oh, they absolutely believe it's going to work. The Bari Weisses of the world believe fully that their view of the world has a silent majority behind them who were just waiting to have what The Free Press was delivering to the world... • aabsurdity:Genuinely baffling. • intelati:https://bsky.app/profile/cdelawa...https://bsky.app/profile/cdelawalla.bsky.social/post/3mnrigweehc2t (https://bsky.app/profile/cdelawalla.bsky.social/post/3mnrigweehc2t) • candescence:It looks like Microsoft and Sony's gaming divisions have almost entirely reverted back to exclusivity • Leah Abram:The golden age is over. This is like when Comedy Specials went from DRM-free video files to being included with streaming services • candescence:Sony's pulling back from single-player PC releases is a bit more questionable since low sales there are kinda self-inflicted due to late but overpriced releases, but the Xbox division has a new boss and it seems she's decided that multiplatform releases simply aren't working and are hurting the brand • timothygeigner:Trust me, the exclusivity thing is on my radar. I definitely have things to say about it. • Though why Microsoft won't just admit that they lost the console wars is beyond me. • John Roddy:My favorite was the clarification that the new Gears of War would be exclusive to Xbox. • And PC. • The ol' Ubisoft-style definition of exclusive. • aabsurdity:As a PC gamer... • BentFranklin:Landmark German ruling declares Google's AI Overviews are Google's own words and makes it liable for false answers • [[article]https://the-decoder.com/landmark-german-ruling-declares-googles-ai-overviews-are-googles-own-words-and-makes-it-liable-for-false-answers/](https://the-decoder.com/landmark-german-ruling-declares-googles-ai-overviews-are-googles-own-words-and-makes-it-liable-for-false-answers/) • aabsurdity:> First I came for the Communists > And I laughed > Because I was not a Communist > Then I came for the Socialists > And I laughed > Because I was not a Socialist > Then I came for the trade unionists > And I laughed > Because I was not a trade unionist > Then I came for the Jews > And I laughed > Because I was not a Jew > Then they came for me > “If he would do that to me, he would do that to anybody,” I said > “There’s never going to be good enough for him, other than 100 percent, you know, slavish adherence to whatever he wants.“ Become an Insider! 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