u/N3rdStar

I'm writing this today, because I know I'm not the only one who feels conflicted on America's 250th. On the one hand, I want to be proud of our nation's people, history, diversity, struggles, and triumphs. But on the other hand, I can't be proud or support the Trump Administration's actions. I feel so conflicted because being proud of this country feels like I'm supporting Trump's fascist rhetoric. I hate that Trump makes me ashamed to be an American.

Which got me thinking, since when did the Republicans become the patriotic party? Why do they get to act like they are America's chosen when the people they elected are actively destroying every institution we've spent years building? It makes my blood boil when I see them cover themselves head-to-toe in American flag colors and then praise the degradation of our nation's morals.

Fascist regimes have a tendency to appropriate positive symbols and corrupt them. Before the Nazi party, the swastika was a symbol of well-being, prosperity, harmony, and more. I'm worried that the same thing is happening to our flag. What should be a symbol of freedom, diversity, and unity is becoming a propaganda tool for the fascist regime.

Republicans have been driving this narrative for decades now, that the left hates America and the right loves America. And to make matters worse, we've been playing into this narrative. At every protest I've gone to, I've seen tons of American flags being flown upside down. While I appreciate the enthusiasm, I think we are sending the wrong message.

Aren't we the true American patriots? We're the ones out here putting ourselves in danger to protest this administration. And why are we protesting? Because we care. Because we love this country and want to see it flourish. We are the ones fighting for liberty and justice for all. We are the ones fighting for the American dream. We are the ones fighting for freedom. Anyone who supports the Trump administration stands against these ideals.

I think we need to make a bigger effort to push back against their narrative. Call them out on their false patriotism. When they raise an American flag, we raise one higher. When they say you hate America, show them how much you love this country. When they stand proud, you stand taller. The left needs to stop conceding on this narrative. We need to show the nation just how much more we truly care about America. They are the ones who should feel ashamed, not us.

So do me a favor on this 250th. Don't ever, EVER, let a Republican make you feel like less of an American than them. This administration doesn't represent us. Don't give them the satisfaction of ruining this holiday for you. You can simultaneously be proud of this country and be opposed to those who are destroying it. Show some patriotism. You've earned it.

I have a task that feels like it would be perfect for AI. However, I don’t have much experience, and I'm not sure how to tackle the problem.

A friend of mine recently had his car robbed. Among some of the things lost were his custom fencing gear. I know sometimes robbers will use sites like Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Craigslist, etc. to e-fence stolen goods for profit.

Regardless of whether or not I could recover the stolen gear, (I don’t have confidence that I will) would it be possible to use AI to search for something like this? I envisioned the task to work like this:

* upload some images of the gear to the agent

* have the agent scrape through online marketplaces. If the agent finds any listings with images that are close to the given images, record the link in an excel file. (Or something similar)

* I can then manually check each listing for suspicious activity. (Low/wierd pricing, close location, check image metadata, etc.)

I tried messing around with agents on Apify, but none of them really did what I was looking for.

Like I said before, I'm not too worried about being successful in this endeavor. I mostly want to know if this is a doable task at all. I feel like I can't be the only one who has ever wanted to search marketplaces by image instead of text.