davel

davel, 7 months ago

Hollywood war reenactments are a psyop.

davel, 7 months ago

We were that one time, and we’ve been milking it ever since.

davel, 7 months ago

We also nuked two cities, for reasons much less honorable or necessary than the one we are told.

davel, 7 months ago

I think mostly because the Allied Powers won WWII and got to make the rules. Often the argument is made that, by giving the nuclear-capable countries veto power, they’re less likely to use those weapons, but that might be more of a rationalization than the actual reason.

davel, 7 months ago

Neither of you are wrong, but Americans should understand that the USSR suffered over twenty million deaths vs ~117,000 Americans on the Western Front. They had their own western cities & infrastructure invaded/destroyed. The undertaking & sacrifices are hard to compare.

Russians trying to rewrite history

Okay my bad: you actually are wrong.

davel, 7 months ago

The reason for the bombs being dropped is very clear and you’re free to read countless books, articles, papers on it.

I’ve read the same arguments & documents as every other red-blooded American, but unlike most I’ve also read the counterarguments.

davel, 7 months ago

Two reasons, I think:

• So Japan would unconditionally surrender to the US instead of (conditionally or unconditionally) surrendering to the USSR.
• As a warning to the USSR to not spread communism further. The Cold War started even before WWII ended.

davel, 7 months ago

Imperial America is a death cult.

davel, 7 months ago

I’m super-fun at parties 😐

davel, 7 months ago

You & I are the only people who seem to know this. Everyone else is busy arguing whether we can “afford” to give Ukraine “free stuff”, when in reality none of it is free, and whatever few Ukrainians are left alive after this war will be paying onerous debt for generations. They’re already auctioning off many public assets to mostly foreign buyers at fire sale prices, up to and including seaports.

davel, 7 months ago

Remember when we used to make fun of parliamentary governments when they became “without a government.”

Well joke’s on us right now with a Speakerless House.

davel, 7 months ago

Yeah these are long-ago settled, 101-level, wikipedia-level data visualization principles.

davel, 7 months ago

Everyone knows data is not beautiful when you visualize scalars using area instead of length.

davel, 7 months ago

Did The Resistance during the Trump administration ever actually do anything or was it just hot air?

davel, 7 months ago

Yes, it’s called tendering your resignation.

davel, 7 months ago

Ryan Cooper, 2018: The fake resistance inside the Trump administration

What a crock.

If there were real organized resistance to Trump within the administration or the Republican Party more broadly, these people would be doing dramatically more than they are. If they really believe Trump is a danger to the nation and world — and he is — it should hardly be a mystery what to do about it.

tl;dr:

1. Get rid of Trump — before the 2020 election
2. Quit and join the opposition
3. Undermine him from the inside

davel, 7 months ago

There’s a very good primer on this topic, written almost 80 years ago by the precursor to the CIA: Simple Sabotage Field Manual by Office of Strategic Services

davel, 7 months ago

One’s interpretation of this relationship might make for a good liberal/socialist Voight-Kampff test.

davel, 7 months ago

Israel & the US will never be on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism no matter what heinous shit they do. Torture programs, ethnic cleansing, whatever.

davel, 7 months ago

I mean, people have been stabbing each other since time immemorial, officer, what’s the big deal?

Appeal to tradition/precedent/history

davel, 7 months ago

I’m not going to do that, because my point is more general, about a larger issue.

Remember the Disinformation Governance Board, which lasted all of four months, because it was all too obvious that it was the formation of a formalized censorship regime?

Global North governments are trying to make themselves the arbiters of what is true, and then suppress what they decree to be untrue.

Take a look at this report on the fediverse from the Atlantic Council, the premier Global North foreign policy think tank. They’re going to come for us, just like they came for the corporate social media platforms. Collective Security in a Federated World (full PDF report)

davel, 7 months ago

Disinformation, formerly known as information.

davel, 7 months ago

The revolution ethnic cleansing will not be televised

davel, 7 months ago

From what I hear, 20% of them have dual passports, and half of those live there only part time. These Global North expats who have an easy out should fuck off back to where they came from.