@franktaber@mas.to avatar

franktaber

@franktaber@mas.to

Building community. Nym.

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franktaber, to random
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

A great old post from @anildash
I really liked this:

▪ Is the idea grounded in a bedrock principle, based on humanity and compassion?
▪ Is the idea so simple to understand that people can articulate it to one another, even if they're not trained advocates?
▪ Is the purpose so obviously broadly beneficial that everyone can understand how it helps them or someone they care about?
▪ Is the goal so clear that everyone can tell if it has been achieved yet?

https://www.anildash.com/2022/01/31/you-have-to-start-with-the-principle/

mekkaokereke, to random
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

Some of y'all are still confused as to why it seems that Silicon Valley billionaires are "turning to Trump." That's because you don't listen to Black people, you disrespect poor white people, and you ignore obvious statistics that have been staring you in the face for decades.

Silicon. Valley. Billionaires. Have. Always. Supported. Trump.

Not because they like the tax breaks. Because they are more likely to be racist, and racism is the greatest predictor of Trump support.

1/N

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@mekkaokereke As @ai6yr has written plumbers and similar are often extremely far right and many of them are fairly well off and did not go to college.

franktaber, to random
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

This is a chart of direct and indirect deaths that happened during each US presidency since WW2 due to combat. The data is approximate as any data of this sort must be and comes from the best sources I can find online. The list of countries in which these deaths occurred is a very long list.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

These are the countries:
Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Argentina
Bosnia
Brazil
Cambodia
Chile
China
Colombia
Congo
Cuba
Cyprus
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Egypt
El Salvador
Ethiopia
Gaza
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Hungary
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Italy
Kenya
Korea
Kuwait
Laos
Lebanon
Liberia
Libya
Malaya
Nicaragua
Oman
Pakistan
Palestine/Israel
Panama
Paraguay
Persian Gulf
Philippines
Rwanda
Serbia (Kosovo)
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
South Vietnam
Sudan
Syria
Taiwan Strait
Vietnam
Yemen

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@ai6yr My mistake I will fix.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

As I mentioned in another post in many of these instances the UK and other countries were directly or indirectly involved as well. A similar chart could be made for UK prime ministers and for many other countries as well.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@ai6yr I will admit I spent far too much time preparing the data and not enough making the chart.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@ai6yr During Vietnam it was from all of the arms flowing to different groups in the region and to allied pseudo governments. During Bush I and Iraq it was ambiguous as many of the deaths were somewhat directly attributable to the war but somewhat not. Tricky to put them in a category.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

This chart is a useful piece of information for those who are thinking about and care about US foreign policy and the choices made over the years in each presidential administration. And the consequences that this has for people all over the world.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@ai6yr Also many of the indirect deaths during Johnson II were in Indonesia supported by the US.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@ai6yr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_mass_killings_of_1965%E2%80%9366

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

I am seeing a pattern.





franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

What this chart tells me is surprisingly Biden is the second best on foreign policy among US presidents in 70 years. That is not what I would have expected given how mad everyone is at him.

ayoub, to random
@ayoub@spore.social avatar

The US opposition to the International Criminal Court () and to international law is obviously self-serving. Israel here is merely providing the Americans with an excuse.

For those who don’t know, the US passed a bill in 2002 allowing the state to use any means necessary to protect Americans accused by the ICC. It’s informally known as The Hague Invasion Act, in case you thought they’d be subtle about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members'_Protection_Act

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@ayoub I would slice this differently. The US should support the ICC regardless of who it goes after. Sadly no administration in US history has given full unconditional support to the ICC.

But this makes little difference for Ukraine because Putin was never going to respect the ICC or any other international body.

skinnylatte, to BelieveInFilm
@skinnylatte@hachyderm.io avatar

Let's try a new format for photography / storytelling.

--

Lately, I've been thinking about what it means to have come from the equator. Imagine growing up with no seasons, except 'rain' and 'monsoon' and 'hot' and 'hotter'. Everything around you is green, all year round, never brown. Lush is not just the word they use in magazines about tropical travel, but it's the only world you know.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@skinnylatte This post is making me crave some boiling hot spicy soup.

seachanger, to random
@seachanger@alaskan.social avatar

if I were biden, I’d whip every single willing rep and senator into a full action plan to bring integrity to the supreme court, starting with the demand that judges whose households have documented partisan or ethics issues involving politicians must be recused from all decisions involving those leaders

https://www.theguardian.com/law/article/2024/may/18/samuel-alito-flag-supreme-court-ethics-election?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@seachanger Senator Whitehouse has been banging this drum weekly in the senate as far as I know. He has used the senate's power to launch investigations and such. But with a razor thin majority I do not think there is support for anything further as they would need Senator Manchin to agree and good luck with that.

glennf, to random
@glennf@twit.social avatar

I don't admire Mike Johnson: he has terrible, regressive views, and given the power, he would make our country tremendously worse for most people who don't look like him and believe what he believes.

But, given his awful approach to the world, I am impressed that he has pursued necessary bipartisan action that approaches statespersonlike behavior in preventing government shutdown, deters Russian expansionism, and counters dysfunction.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@glennf I wonder when the next bible will drop.

TechConnectify, to random
@TechConnectify@mas.to avatar

Real thought:

What depresses me most about the state of the world at present is that we've stopped caring to live up to the spirit of our ideals.

When we fail them and are pressed, we can rationalize our terrible actions based on technicalities - and large swaths of our culture have normalized doing this very thing.

It is my most sincere hope that we can walk our way back from this. I see some signs of this, but would prefer to see many more.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@TechConnectify @glyph This is just what happens when the world no longer lives in the good feeling illusion of rectitude. It was what the British Empire was about and the early American Empire after WWII. For all their horrors they did have some virtues they expressed even if they were not applied universally. Things like the UN came out of that.

The 1960s and 1970s shattered it. And the internet reminded us that everyone everywhere has a point of view. That is reality now.

franktaber,
@franktaber@mas.to avatar

@TechConnectify @glyph I agree. The trouble is that the two were tied together in the old cultural mythology. They had the same roots in god and country. Everything and everyone was part of the hierarchy and had their place. Those on top had noblesse oblige.

We in the Anglosphere are very much in nihilism now or at least extreme relativism.

We need a new set of cultural virtues that do not require the hierarchy of old.

franktaber, to random
@franktaber@mas.to avatar
RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    franktaber,
    @franktaber@mas.to avatar

    @RickiTarr I thought there were studies that in most hunter gatherer societies there are plenty of people who live 70 or 80 years. It is just that child mortality rates are higher because of a lack of vaccines and antibiotics.

    franktaber,
    @franktaber@mas.to avatar

    @RickiTarr Here is one scholar's explanation.

    https://theconversation.com/hunter-gatherers-live-nearly-as-long-as-we-do-but-with-limited-access-to-healthcare-104157

    Adam_Cadmon1, to random
    @Adam_Cadmon1@mastodon.online avatar

    What if...what if there was a family or maybe a collection of families with members who have much longer than average lifespans

    franktaber,
    @franktaber@mas.to avatar

    @jennifersmith @Adam_Cadmon1 There are definitely large cities or regions with much longer lifespans. Madrid Spain for example has the highest and several other areas in Spain are high.

    https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20231106-1

    Though there is also some reason to believe the famous blue zones like in rural areas of Italy and Greece and Japan may be places with worse than average bookkeeping rather than actual longevity. The studies on this are mixed.

    franktaber, to random
    @franktaber@mas.to avatar

    Since I was discussing in another thread here are some articles backing up what I was saying that he is like a cross between Joe Rogan and Trump and worse than Biden on Gaza.

    "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offered staunch support for Israel in a Reuters interview, calling it a “moral nation” that was justly responding to Hamas provocations with its attacks on Gaza and questioning the need for a six-week ceasefire backed by President Joe Biden." 1/

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/2024-dark-horse-rfk-jr-questions-gaza-ceasefire-defends-israeli-offensive/

    franktaber,
    @franktaber@mas.to avatar

    "A tweet from the account of ... Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday used language that many observers say evokes the known Nazi hate symbol “1488.”" 2/

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/robert-f-kennedy-jr-tweet_n_64c3fab7e4b021e2f29310ba

    franktaber,
    @franktaber@mas.to avatar

    I have particularly strong opinions about RFK Jr because of how much harm he has caused in the US and UK through his antivax garbage. The apple fell very far from the tree.

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