Another straw man

Harris lost. She performed worse than the two other democrats who ran against Trump. That’s not a strawman, its a simple fact.

Perhaps you think it is a strawman to suggest she might have been responsible for her exceptionally poor performance?

they’re sociopaths. we’re the good guys

They’re sociopaths, certainly. But they’re sociopaths who the liberal faction seem content (perhaps even eager) to roll over for.

I don’t see many good guys. Only the bad and the ugly.

DOGE is a purge, of sorts. I don’t think its fixing things.

In western states, quite a few of the people are the fascists. Quite a few more are sympathetic to fascists. And those who work forces are regularly the ones who burn crosses.

“If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

― Malcolm X

Needless to say, we live in a nation full of uncareful people.

Both Republicans and Democrats were happy with using the very same tools in the very same way these assholes now are using them, and even the supposed greatest Democrat president of the last 3 decades, Barack Obama, very specifically relied on changing the meaning of words (just like the Fascists do) by specifically redefining the meaning of “enemy combatant” to hide in the final tally the most immoral and unethical effects of his choices.

“There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party … and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt — until recently … and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties.”

― Gore Vidal

Sociopathic sleaze has been the way of the office of POTUS and cronies for a long time and in many things such as this, it’s not different Ethics and Morals that really distinguishes Democrats from Republicans

The western mass media venerates the holocaust of foreigners, particularly browner-skinned foreigners, on the grounds that they are savage and our bombs and bullets bring modernity. As Trump brings imperialism home to the industrial core, we’re going to see these same promises of modernity used to justify the demolition and decimation of the American interior.

Honestly most recent movies and tv shows look like scenarios were generated by AI or some barbie sweet happy life generator so there is nothing entertaining.

A lot of slop has wide appeal. And let’s not pretend soap operas and sitcoms and trope genre fiction don’t routinely have wide appeal. The theory that AI can seamlessly replicate pulp fiction / scripted reality TV seems to have held up for the most part, because so much of this content is a canned and formulaic to begin with.

What AIs lack, more than anything, is a face and personality that is distinct to the line of work. There is no real AI “House Style” that gets adhered to. I can pick up a dozen Brian Sanderson novels and get roughly the same experience. But if I ask a Chatbot to “write me a chapter of a Brian Sanderson novel”, what I’m really going to get is a generic jumble of Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Marvel with a few Brian Sanderson tropes thrown in.

I think people feel more connected because they feel something when watching person talking on the screen whatever they want to talk about instead of person reading from script.

So much of the “spontaneous” content is still heavily scripted and acted on delivery. What makes professional acting impressive is the range - a single person embodying a wide range of personalities and mannerisms. I don’t watch Gary Oldman or Daniel Day-Lewis because I’m looking for unpolished delivery.

But the Auteur experience is what draws people in and makes certain works rise above their peer materials. AI has no real artistry. All it does is cut, copy, and paste from a grab bag of established popular materials, hoping it’ll trigger enough nostalgia to be recognized as good.

As styles and tastes shift, I have to wonder what AI is going to look like, given how rooted it is in the moment of instantiation. The long tail will drag, while younger and historically unburdened artists will be out experimenting.

Perhaps using Richard Cheney’s daughter to rebut the guy running for Unitary Executive was a mistake.

No, no, no. It was definitely just voters being stupid. I guess democracy was a mistake and we should have simply consolidated power under a more liberal dictatorship sooner.

Every election I voted in I’ve had to have id.

I’m currently trying to get my newborn son a passport, as the offices that handle this - SSA, Post Office, etc - are rapidly being dismantled by DOGE. I have no idea how we’ll be able to maintain or renew our documentation in coming years, given that there’s simply not going to be anyone to stamp the forms and mail me renewed papers at this rate.

it hasn’t shifted so that we need proof of ethnicity or some other bs

It specifically has for transgender people. We’ve seen both state and national rules changes that no longer recognize change of gender identity on forms. So a person who shows up to vote with a form that shows “Man” when presenting as a Woman is prime target for disenfranchisement.

We’re also increasingly seeing Hispanic and Arab people targeted for arrest and imprisonment, purely on an individual not currently carrying ID (and - in many cases - despite this fact). It isn’t hard to imagine this persecution continuing into the next election cycle, with DHS agents grabbing people at polling stations.

Held by whom? Pointed at whom?

Back in Obama times when extrajudicial executions by drone started to be a thing

Obama gets a lot of shit for this, and plenty of it is deserved. But I think people fixate on “execution by drone” while forgetting Bush Jr and prior administrations tended to use hellfire missiles launched from manned black-hawk helicopters to the same effect.

the civilian casualties numbers were so bad that they even changed the definition of “enemy combatant” when counting casualties to be “any male of military age”.

I believe this was the standard during the original Bush Jr Iraq invasion. Also… go back to the US invasions and interventions in Nicaragua, Vietnam, Korea, and the Balkins… hell, straight back to the WWs, and you’re going to see people playing very fast and loose with the definition of “combatant”. Military officers have never been picky about collateral damage before. What’s largely changed has been the post-Vietnam media coverage, as a rebuttal to the photography and video journalism that emerged from that era.

We have to say we’re only killing “enemy combatants” now, because we want to preemptively rebut the claim that we did another Mai Ly Massacre or Hadditha.

The tools and mindset when it comes to murder abroad

And now we’re seeing the mindset come home, perhaps in a way we haven’t experienced since Blair Mountain.

Wow. They leveled an entire apartment complex and killed at least 53 people in order to extrajudicially execute one person.

What a scandal this checks notes bungled invite to Signal is.

I believe vulnerability to misinformation is an effect of genetics

:-/

And you came to this conclusion… genetically?

Catfish2Catfish communication.

we’re slowly evolving away the dumbest and most dangerous of the population

Do you believe that exposure to misinformation is a consequence of genetics? Like, people are just born with an ear uniquely tuned to anti-vax radio, television, and social media?

Now they’re building up like cord wood, and starting to smolder.

“RFK Jr is getting his eugenics backwards” is one hell of a take.

Is autism diagnosis really that formalized?

Certainly moreso than a generation ago.

(Personally, I’ve always wanted to be tested but the 12 month plus waiting list and the $5k not covered by insurance means that I’ll probably continue going through the rest of my life without any form of work accommodation…)

Not unusual for kids to be picked out in grade school and referred for further diagnosis. But yeah, I can definitely get not wanting to bother going out of pocket on something like that as an adult. Not unless there’s a pressing need.

the rise in people identifying as autistic and diagnoses could be connected the fact that we created a non functioning society that only values extraverted people who are willing to lie and hurt others

Or it could be the strict formalization of psychiatric studies, combined with the more broad based diagnosis and categorization of the school aged working class. We’ve invested more labor and professional expertise in analyzing public education and its consequences, so we’re picking up on a wider variety of psychological variants and aptitudes.

That neurodivergence is pathologized primarily because it runs counter to functioning in a capitalist society

Capitalists are more than happy to profiteer off of neurodivergence both coming - via commodification of prodigy and other unusual pools of talent - and going - via medical marketing and “normalization” therapies. I wouldn’t say it runs counter to capitalist social agendas, because nothing runs strictly against an agenda that is fixated exclusively on maximizing future profit. We’re continuing to invent exciting new ways to exploit people’s psychological differences, always with an eye towards alienation, segregation, and surplus extraction. Identifying and capturing neurodivegent individuals and squeezing them for their productive value has been a big part of the modern Finance Sector and Silicon Valley projects.

in a world where struggling to make eye contact doesn’t get you disqualified in job interviews…

We’re creating a world in which everyone interfaces through computers, where individuals are encouraged to self-segregate and alienate one another, and where information is constantly mediated through attention-grabbing infographic spectacles that reward the users for engagement.

This is not a system designed to exclude individuals with autism. This is a system designed to feed on them.

As US Withdraws From WHO, China Supercharges Its Public Health Diplomacy

Over the course of two decades, China has built a public health aid program for the world, turbocharged by the pandemic. As the U.S. retreats, China will only garner more influence globally.

…

Based on AidData’s Global China Development Finance (GCDF) dataset, China is heading in the opposite direction of the United States, doubling down on its global health outreach program through its signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). During a moment of high geopolitical tension and multiple humanitarian crises in the world, retreating from global health diplomacy – an area where Washington was once the acknowledged leader – degrades the United States’ influence and reputation and undermines U.S. national security.

China is executing its effort through its Health Silk Road program, which includes projects from constructing hospitals in developing countries to providing ophthalmic operating equipment. China supported refugees in the Middle East and Asia and provided malaria and AIDS medicines to poor communities. From 2000-2014, China donated an aggregate of $1.45 billion to developing countries, but then ramped that up during the period 2015-2019, to $2.14 billion. Over the course of 20 years China sent medical teams to over 85 countries.

Reminds me of the old quote:

Every time China visits we get a hospital, every time Britain visits we get a lecture.

~ Dr Lubinda Haabazoka, Director of the University of Zambia Graduate School of Business and former President of the Economics Association of Zambia

Selection bias. All the survivors will say “See! We didn’t need the Fauchi Ouchie!” while all the dead won’t say anything.

I’ve straight up been at an event where a speaker asked “Raise your hand if you’ve died because you didn’t get vaccinated! Nobody? That’s what I thought.”

it’s not just antivaxers who antivaxers kill.

Reminded of the family whose kid died of measles saying “Our other kids survived, so it was fine”.

That young child wasn’t the one who had been deluded with misinformation.

Necessary to protect people with weak immune systems, certainly. But we rarely get better than 60% of the population flu vaxed. It is still vital to deter higher instances of hospitalization and to blunt the rate of spread.