@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

agamemnonymous

@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

agamemnonymous, (edited )
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

Do y’all just, sincerely not understand what “lesser evil” means? Yes, the lesser evil is still bad. We know. That’s what “evil” means. Both options suck, one sucks measurably more, so you choose the one that is less bad.

None of these “Both sides!” Leftists ever seem to offer specific or workable alternatives. It’s always something vague like “Have our voices be heard, take back the country from the oligarchs!” And I feel that, but like, how? What specific candidate or action is going to prevent both from winning?

A State Supreme Court Just Issued Another Devastating Rebuke of the U.S. Supreme Court (slate.com)

The Hawaii Supreme Court handed down a unanimous opinion on Wednesday declaring that its state constitution grants individuals absolutely no right to keep and bear arms outside the context of military service. Its decision rejected the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment, refusing to interpolate...

agamemnonymous, (edited )
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

If it were so simple, there would be no reason to preface the statement with the clause about a well-regulated militia. No other amendment includes functionless explanatory language. Every amendment was looked over and debated with considerable care, and the language used was deliberately chosen with purpose. The clause was included for a reason, and was not removed for a reason.

No good-faith reading of the language can conclude that the drafters would have phrased it that way if they did not intend for “a well-regulated militia” to be functionally relevant to the interpretation. If they had intended the amendment to mean, simply, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” then that would have comprised the entirety of the text. Legal language is hard sometimes, but not that hard if you try.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

As a very sociable introvert, I feel seen.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

Also wasn’t he sorta directly responsible for it in the first place? US for years maintained pandemic response labs in high-risk areas, like around the notorious wet-markets in Wuhan, that he shuttered early in his term. We were explicitly looking out for that kind of thing to catch it before it became a global issue, but he thought it cost too much.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

I try not to use a lot of plastic wrap, but sometimes it’s the right tool for the job. I will always spring for the good stuff, generic is basically useless and you waste way more for inferior performance.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

Uh, that pop-up is “unpleasant feelings”. Pain, discomfort, bad taste/smell, etc. If you went outside and started eating dirt, your brain would pop-up with “Hey, this tastes yucky, you should stop”

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

I tested it, I disagree. Or do you only respect tests that confirm your biases? Doesn’t sound very scientific to me.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

Sat through a pitch. Their last ditch “Alright, I got special permission from my manager for this” price was like 1/4 their initial price, and even then just the additional maintenance fees alone was more expensive than just booking a room once a year.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

The two main rules that get ignored are 1. Free Parking is exactly that, you don’t get anything for landing on it, and 2. If you land on an unowned property and decide not to buy, it immediately goes up for auction. Ignoring those rules drags the game out forever. It’s supposed to be relatively short and brutal.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

I never read the books, but it was my understanding that the hobbits were more resilient against the ring precisely because they were bumpkins without ambitions that left them open to corruption

agamemnonymous, (edited )
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

Some other ADHD-addled Tumblr user would play “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen on repeat while they wrote essays, forcing themselves to finish the paper before they could turn off the song. It worked surprisingly well, except they also conditioned their brain to go into panic-fueled-essay-mode whenever they heard the song in any context

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

Move fast and break things, I guess. My take away is that the genie isn’t going back in the bottle. Hopefully failing fast and loud gets us through the growing pains quickly, but on an individual level we’d best be vigilant and adapt to the landscape.

Frankly I’d rather these big obvious failures to insidious little hidden ones the conservative path makes. At least now we know to be skeptical. No development path is perfect, if it were more conservative we might get used to taking results at face value, leaving us more vulnerable to that inevitable failure.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

Yes, “we”, consisting of statistically significant factions of the voting population. Campaigns take time and money, neither of which any candidates besides the two front-runners have enough of to be competitive. They’re not gonna ask you who wins, you don’t decide. I don’t see 70 million Americans shifting to anyone else at this stage.

agamemnonymous, (edited )
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

Is it a paradox to say that driving in circles around a roundabout is pointless because it doesn’t get you anywhere, but driving along the route to a destination does? Driving is driving, does it work or not? Paradox! Smearing food on your belly doesn’t satisfy your hunger, but eating it does. Does food satisfy hunger or not? Paradox!

If we had approval or ranked choice voting, voting third party would accomplish something. Since we have First Past the Past elections, voting third party is as effective as smearing food on your belly or circling a roundabout for hours.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

I’m not promoting it either, that doesn’t change the fact that it is what we use. Voting for a candidate that supports RCV doesn’t basically mean that the election you voted for them in becomes retroactively RCV, you act based on what the system is, not what it should be.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

Hows that goin for ya?

Pretty well actually, considering the glacial pace inherent to changing a political landscape. It’s made it onto the ballot in several states, and is used several local and state-wide elections here and there. The Fair Representation Act has been brought to th the floor in 2017, 2019, 2021, and again this year but it hasn’t been voted on yet.

How about if everyone just voted for the candidate that supports ranked choice?

How’s that going for ya? Elected a third party candidate to the presidency yet?

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

That’s not how the system works. All voting third party does is equivocate approval for the two front runners. Do you approve of the insurrectionist fascist and the neo-liberal equally? Are they exactly the same to you? Do you think they are equally supportive of election reform?

The fascists with minority support only have power because kids who don’t understand the electoral system either abstain from voting, or vote third party. If everyone held their nose and showed up to vote lesser evil, the Republican party would wither away into being a third party themselves and a progressive party could actually gain footing.

Your candidate doesn’t stand a chance precisely because people like you keep pretending the system works differently.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

The Fair Representation Act has been sponsored by a Democrat every time.

It’s orders of magnitude more probable to get the slim minority you’re talking about to align D than it is to get the overwhelming majority I’m talking about to rally behind the same third party candidate. It’s not even worth comparing, the concept is laughable at best. To even hint at that happening this election is bordering on clinical levels of delusion.

If you want to campaign for your candidate next cycle, be my guest. Start early, organize, fundraise and get the message out. Next cycle. This cycle, you’re dividing the anti-Project-2025 voting bloc. This cycle, you run the very real risk of ensuring there is no next cycle. Remember that.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

How do… how do you think the coffee becomes instant? Do you suspect that a coffee grinder, filter, and hot water is more complicated and machine laden than the process that turns beans into soluble powder?

I'm begging you to learn how to use this term. (lemmy.world)

Tankie’s original use was for British communists who supported Soviet military expansion. In the modern sense, it is used to describe communists who are authoritarian-apologists. For example, a communist who romanticizes the Soviet Union or makes excuses for the Uyghur genocide is a tankie. I’ve also seen it stretched to...

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

To be fair, the manifesto notes some very valid observations. The conclusions, and definitely the praxis, may be wrong but the core idea that modern civilization is at odds with human nature has only gotten more obvious since it was written. An-cap is absolutely not the answer, and would definitely make things worse, but there is a valid question.

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

Very clever, how do you plan to do that in the 2 seconds before the trolley passes?

agamemnonymous,
@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works avatar

We have more than two seconds

Not in the trolley scenario you don’t. But in the situation it represents, how do you, personally, plan to “burn the trolley and rip up the tracks” before November?

what does this have to do with criticizing a sitting president?

Fomenting electoral apathy in the conscientious portion of the population just before a close election empowers the candidate preferred by the non-conscientious portion of the population. I’m all for criticisms, but leftist infighting, and refusing to “big-tent” with neo-liberals in election years, only benefits the right.

The opposition learned how to play the game and move things incrementally towards their goals. Letting idealism obstruct pragmatism is only making things worse, even when your ideals are right. Play the game or lose.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • JUstTest
  • GTA5RPClips
  • DreamBathrooms
  • cubers
  • mdbf
  • everett
  • magazineikmin
  • Durango
  • Youngstown
  • rosin
  • slotface
  • modclub
  • kavyap
  • ethstaker
  • provamag3
  • ngwrru68w68
  • thenastyranch
  • cisconetworking
  • khanakhh
  • osvaldo12
  • InstantRegret
  • Leos
  • tester
  • tacticalgear
  • normalnudes
  • anitta
  • megavids
  • lostlight
  • All magazines