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rational_lib

@ rational_lib @lemmy.world

Posts
6
Comments
450
Joined
1 yr. ago

  • Removed

    New "Calexit" bid for California secession approved for signature gathering in effort to put measure on ballot

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  • It would be great if both the east and west coasts join Canada. Then there's a new leader of the western hemisphere to replace the US, better and more modern.

  • Trump berates Danish PM over Greenland in ‘horrendous’ phone call

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  • The good news is we are a very stupid enemy

  • Donald Trump impeachment efforts ramp up

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  • FFS no. All it did the last two times was help him, because impeachment is basically impossible and he's going to "win".

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  • We completely changed how the algorithm worked, pushing pro-Trump and right-wing posts to the top of people's feeds.

    I thought this was common knowledge. Users have been talking about how everyone is getting flooded with right-wing posts on r/twitter ever since Elon took over.

  • DEI or DIE

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  • Original source (reddit)

    They're talking about the federal Veterans Administration, in case that's unclear.

    Edit: I've also confirmed with a federal employee I know that this is happening at the SBA as well, this is probably happening throughout the federal government.

  • DEI or DIE

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  • It's important to resist this in any way you can. One of the strengths of democracy is that because so many people are part of government, it requires a lot of people to participate in making dictatorship work. It can happen, as in Russia or North Korea, but it isn't supposed to be easy.

    The first step I'd suggest is to establish private communication with others in your department so you can coordinate a response without your supervisors knowing. A mass walkout/general strike in the case of firings should be a consideration.

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  • But it's less unsuitable than any alternative avenue for contentious information (traditional news media, youtube/podcasts, social media, etc) - for the simple reason that wikipedia encourages citing sources, while every other platform discourages it.

  • Why Socialism? is a good read

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  • I don't think they say "No intellectual would be a socialist", instead they say intellectuals are bad and evil. It's a classic pattern among dictator cults of personality.

  • bLuEmAGa

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  • "Legality" in this situation is completely irrelevant. The only law that would limit Kamala is the laws of politics. If she opposed intervention in Gaza, this would be the political equivalent of a frontal assault against a battleship. She'd be accused of helping Hamas, a bipartisan bill would be passed undoing whatever she does against Israel, and she'd be endlessly attacked by all sides in the media. If she opposed Israel annexing the West Bank, only the most extremist zionists would be against her on it for the reasons I stated.

  • Elon Musk email to X staff: ‘we’re barely breaking even’

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  • I think he's sugar-coating it because their bonds are about to go up for sale. From the article:

    While equity investors have reportedly slashed the value of their stakes by as much as 78 percent, the Journal reports, “banks hope to sell senior debt at 90-95 cents on the dollar, while retaining more-junior holdings.”

    If they were breaking even, the bonds wouldn't be getting sold at a loss. Keep in mind, the bond holders get paid before the stock holding investors, so if they're taking a loss, the equity investors are getting nothing (hence the 78 percent cut, basically their share is only worth the odds of a miraculous turnaround). That doesn't happen with a company unless it's losing money.

  • bLuEmAGa

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  • Reminder that the West Bank is the one that's not even ruled by Hamas and hasn't attacked Israel. If Israel tried to do this under Harris, no doubt weapons would've been cut off and the US might have even favored sanctions.

  • Trump suggests Ukraine shouldn't have fought back against Russia

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  • “They’re saying ‘the war is tomorrow’ – this causes panic on the market and elsewhere," Zelensky, Jan 2022 in response to US warnings of imminent Russian invasion.

    Zelensky didn't "choose to fight" because Russia insisted there would be no fight right up until it crossed the border. It would've been considered a sneak attack but for the US telling everyone Russia was invading for a full month in advance. There was no choice offered to Zelensky and never has been since, unless you count Russia's current stance of basically "give us all your weapons and maybe then we'll negotiate"/

  • How about them eggs?

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  • If you look at "breakdown of tax propoals by category" note that it doesn't account for inflation, for example giving a reduction to everyone for tax cuts. But in the real world, that's not how it works. Tax cuts that are paid for with deficit spending like these are essentially zero-sum because the price of everything will have to increase to account for spending power. So in other words, it's even worse for everyone but the 1% than indicated.

  • A Request to the Fediverse Community

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  • It would be great to have a fediverse service for Meetup. Bending Spoons is aggressively enshittifying the original site, definitely ripe for disruption.

  • More than 50 Reddit communities ban X links to protest Musk

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  • Trump to lift pause on 2,000-pound bomb supply to Israel, Walla News reports

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  • And is it working?

    Point being, the whole "genocide" thing is useless because people don't care. No one thinks they're committing a genocide. If you went to Nazi Germany, they'd tell you the holocaust is not a genocide, it's a security measure or something like that. Just like you probably don't look at Oct. 7 as a genocide. It's the same thing. We're all human, we're all easily tricked into being monsters.

  • Trump to lift pause on 2,000-pound bomb supply to Israel, Walla News reports

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  • Does anyone decide against genocide when it suits them? There's some irony in both Palestine and Israel supporters whining to the Democrats about not opposing the respective genocides hard enough while ignoring their Hamas and Netanyahu doing it to the other side. Take the log out of your own eye before complaining about the speck in the other's.

    On a rational level, we all need to oppose killing of civilians and children. But man, it's hard to convince people to care when the people you're trying to save won't help themselves.

  • Are there parts of Ukraine that genuinely prefer to be part of Russia as opposed to Ukraine?

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  • Perhaps before the 2022 invasion. You can see for example the first round of the last presidential election results here - the light blue supported the pro-Russia candidate Yuriy Boyko, who didn't advocate being part of Russia but instead wanted better relations with Russia. After the invasion, Boyko himself apparently became part of a new party of ex-pro-russian candidates who now support Ukraine against Russia.

    Generally it's hard to say how many fit into the category of "wanted an independent Ukraine but that is still close to Russia", but my sense is that it was a pretty large part of the blue group. Consider for example the average American liberal who wants the US to be more like Canada - probably there are some who would rather have their part of the country become part of Canada, but it's probably not most and certainly nowhere near all. Additionally, it's likely that many who actually did want to live in Russia changed their mind after the atrocities of the invasion.

  • Trump issues pardons for participants in the Jan. 6 riot at the US capital

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  • Here is a list of the people with commuted sentences and their location of arrest. All of this is public information combined from executive proclamation here and arrest records here. Information is provided for awareness purposes only, these people may be armed and dangerous and should be avoided in all aspects of life.

    Stewart Rhodes - TEXAS, Little ElmKelly Meggs - FLORIDA, Middle DistrictKenneth Harrelson - FLORIDA, TitusvilleThomas Caldwell - VIRGINIA, CharlottesvilleJessica Watkins - Ohio, DaytonRoberto Minuta - NEW YORK, Southern DistrictEdward Vallejo - ARIZONA, PhoenixDavid Moerschel - FLORIDA, Fort MyersJoseph Hackett - FLORIDA, SarasotaEthan Nordean - WASHINGTON, Western DistrictJoseph Biggs - FLORIDA, Ormond BeachZachary Rehl - PENNSYLVANIA, PhiladelphiaDominic Pezzola - NEW YORK, RochesterJeremy Bertino - (unspecified)