Probably the Windows, then. Like I said above:

This new one uses Windows 11. I did log into Windows 11 with my Microsoft account. Maybe that’s how they tracked it? That seems far-fetched, but maybe?

No. Lemmy is the best I’ve found, but there aren’t nearly enough users to make it anywhere close to as useful as Reddit.

did you use the same websites on brave that you normally use?

No. I exclusively have used Brave just for Reddit specifically for this reason. I also used Edge, which came installed on the laptop. Maybe data from Edge is used in Brave or Reddit is somehow able to track that? I never went to Reddit in Edge, let alone logged in, but I did log into my Google account (which has never been linked to any Reddit account, but I’ve been logged into it on the same browser as my older Reddit account in the past).

did you use a different operating system?

I’ve used Reddit with my old account on Android phones and my old laptop, which ran Windows 10. This new one uses Windows 11. I did log into Windows 11 with my Microsoft account. Maybe that’s how they tracked it? That seems far-fetched, but maybe?

did you use a brave account on it?

No, and I only use Brave in incognito mode. I know that doesn’t prevent anyone else from tracking anything, but it’s supposed to not save local files after closing the browser.

did you verify that your vpn was using an exit point ip address that you’ve never used before every single time you accessed reddit?

I mean, I don’t track every IP address I’ve ever used. As far as I know it’s been a new IP address, but I really have no way of guaranteeing that. It seems incredibly unlikely I happened to stumble upon one I’ve used before, though.

most importantly: why bother using reddit?

Lemmy isn’t to the point where it can be a Reddit replacement. Sure, for some stuff it’s fine, but the user base is just too small. There are multiple subreddits for local communities around me that are very active which I like to check. There are communities for more niche hobbies, games, and books I like to follow. There’s just WAY more content on Reddit that you can’t get on Lemmy.

Nope. It was a temp email account from one of those temp email sites that deletes the email account once you close the browser. I have no idea how they were able to track me, but it’s kinda scary.

No, I don’t think so.

A few months ago I got permabanned from Reddit. I had an older account I hadn’t used in a few years. I logged into that one and found it, too, was permabanned, with a reference to my other account. I tried to start a new account, and it got immediately banned.

A few weeks after that, for unrelated reasons, I got a brand new laptop. Without ever even going to Reddit on that laptop (let alone trying to log in), I downloaded a new browser I had never used on any device before which advertises it’s focus on safety (the name of the browser is Brave). I connected my VPN. I created a new burner email account. Then I created a new Reddit account. Within 2 days it was permabanned referencing me trying to evade a ban on my other account.

I have no idea how they were able to know it was me. It was a new account, made from a new device, with a new email, through a new privacy-focused browser, on a VPN (so different IP address). There should have been no way for them to track me, yet they somehow still did.

I’d really like to know how they tracked it. Not even just to get back on Reddit. If Reddit is able to track you like that, then you know other companies and governments can.

Do you really need one at this point? AI images are really easy to notice.

Well, we now know for a fact that Abrego Garcia is still alive.

And it’s not about him lying. Of course a piece of shit like Bukele is more than willing to lie to anyone. The point is that he is benefitting politically from this arrangement and if he doesn’t uphold his end he can suffer political harm. It’s not just a promise, it’s a two-way deal.

Looks like I was right. He’s still alive.

I’m talking about what the headline of the article here says.

The leaders are only leaders because the unincarcerated members of the gangs listen to them and do what they say. They only do that because they believe the gang leaders have power and influence. Part of that, now, is protection for gang members who get locked up. How long do you think those leaders are going to remain leaders when everyone knows they made a deal with Bukele that Bukele isn’t living up to? Not long.

No, I think that proving one guy in CECOT has died brings into question the treatment of everyone else in CECOT, including gang members the leaders of the gang do care about.

The US government, like all governments, is comprised of individual people with varying motivations. The person asking for his return is not part of the executive branch, which is what’s paying to keep people in CECOT.

A sitting Senator who is a member of the minority opposition party is asking for him to be returned. The US administration is paying the Salvadoran government to keep him there. The VP of El Salvador told Senator Van Hollen that if the US embassy asked for him to be released they would release him.

I didn’t make the agreement. It’s been widely reported on.

The US treasury said that an investigation into government officials and gang leaders revealed the secret negotiations. Luna [chief of the Salvadoran penal system and vice-minister of justice and public security] and Marroquin [chairman of the Social Fabric Reconstruction Unit] allegedly “led, facilitated and organized a number of secret meetings involving incarcerated gang leaders, in which known gang members were allowed to enter the prison facilities and meet with senior gang leadership”.

In addition to financial benefits for the gang members, incarcerated leaders received special treatment in the prisons, including access to mobile phones and sex workers. It said Luna also negotiated support from MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs for Bukele’s national quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It sounds like the gang leaders who negotiated with Bukele’s regime are incarcerated themselves. And it’s not just prisoners in CECOT who are getting better conditions. It’s incarcerated gang members all over the country.

It’s not unlikely that they are just murdering the inmates

I do think that’s rather unlikely. After Bukele came into power promising a massive reduction in violent crime he met with the leaders of all the major gangs in El Salvador. He asked them tor reduce violent crime in exchange for payoffs and a promise of improved conditions for prisoners. Within 2 years of that agreement violent crime in El Salvador reached the lowest point it’s been in 30 years. If it comes out that prisoners in CECOT are dying, that agreement disappears and violent crime skyrockets. That would completely undermine Bukele’s basis of support.

Americans are absolutely calling the shots here. That’s why El Salvador has him and is keeping him: because the US government is paying them to do so.

I think he is still alive. Bukele made agreements with the leaders of all the major gangs in El Salvador to get them to reduce violent crime. In exchange he gave some money and concessions as to how prisoners would be treated. If it comes out that prisoners are dying in CECOT, the gangs are going to treat that as Bukele breaking their agreement and violent crime will shoot up.

Even if he’s still alive, though, there’s a 0% chance he, or anyone else Trump sends there, will ever come out of CECOT while Bukele or Trump is still in power. It would completely undermine so much about their regimes at this point. They are using CECOT as the ever present existential threat against opposition. It’s supposed to be a black hole people go into and never leave. They can’t let anyone out ever or it proves that people can get out. They don’t want anyone to believe that is possible. They can’t let anyone believe that is possible or it’ll breed massive opposition in both countries.

Open curtains to let in as much natural sunlight as possible. If that’s not enough, main overhead light with a super-bright 14W 2700K bulb. I want it bright, and I want it bright everywhere.

when my own joy brought others joy. That was the only thing that was worth it.

If that’s something you truly value, then you should absolutely have kids. There is no joy greater than that which a child feels, especially one with a loving family.

I also don’t think experiencing life is inconsequential. Sure, it doesn’t have some grand cosmic consequence. Our existence has virtually 0 impact on nearly all of reality. But that’s not the only way to define something as consequential. What’s important to me is my life and the lives of those I care about (which extends far beyond just the people I know personally). My kids’ existence has been enormously consequential for many people who I care about, and my life has been enormously consequential on that of my kids.

I don’t need some grand cosmic meaning behind that. The meaning of life is whatever you choose to make of it. For me, that’s providing as much enjoyment and fulfillment to my family as I can.

Of course not. Everyone suffers in their life at some point. That’s called being alive.

I think that’s also an absurd hurdle to insist someone has to clear.

The fascists have no qualms with having kids and raising them to be little fascists, too. I had kids because I wanted to love and care for people as I help them develop into capable and caring people, but I’m also glad that at least 2 of the members of the generation who will be running this planet when I’m old won’t have been raised by fascists.

I think this whole line of reasoning that it’s immoral or cruel to have children at all is just plain dumb and utterly nonsensical. Yes, there’s a lot of fucked up shit in the world. But, other than climate change, this is far from the worst the world has ever been. Brining people into the world now is not particularly worse for them than, say, having kids in Medieval Europe where there was a decent chance they’d die as an infant or get the plague, but the best case you could hope for was to give them the life of a subsistence dirt farmer. Or ancient Mesopotamia, where, again, odds are they’d die in childhood, but they couldn’t expect better than barely surviving on the edge of starvation. Etc, etc, etc.

Yet through all that people managed to find ways to improve their conditions and that of those around them. People fought and built better lives and a better world. Fuck anyone who tells me I should just give up and just resign that the world now and forever belongs to the fascists and capitalists.

Having kids is not cruel. Despite the darkness, there’s still a hell of a lot of happiness to be had in this world. I look at the expressions of pure joy on my kids’ faces as they explore the forest near our house, or when I get home from work, or when they make cookies for their mom, etc. And you’re telling me giving them that joy is cruel? How detached from reality do you have to be to believe that?