These are the people tasked with developing policy for a second Trump administration. If you’re not deeply scared of what they’re proposing, you are not paying attention.
I’ve started to hate SUV, MUV and MPV. I’ve been thinking about how buses may be an ideal transportation, but in reality, it will probably not be feasible to have an entire transport system running on buses, right? Maybe a bit of rickshaws and mini-taxis too? And also compact private vehicles?...
The existing auto industry would squash this as quickly and effectively as possible, we’d absolutely need a command economy to put something like this through.
According to the United Nations, in 2024, 23.7 million people – more than half of the country’s population – will need humanitarian assistance. The statistics are startling: 69 percent of people do not have enough food; 67 percent have trouble accessing water, worsened by a prolonged drought linked to climate change; the...
I bet they’d be doing a lot better if the US hadn’t stolen $7B USD from their central bank, or you know, bombed the country into oblivion for two decades, or armed and trained the Mujahideen (including Osama) against the Soviets when they wanted to assist Afghanistan’s socialist development. No, blame it all on the Taliban, an organization that profoundly reflects US involvement. That way Western capitalist press can manufacture consent for more US involvement. I’m sure Afghani people are hoping we’ll “help” more. There is no price too great, if we can raise revenue for US arms manufacturers.
We made an automaton clerk. It has neither arms nor body, but it works all day translating physician’s documents, so they may be stored with uniformity in a library that has neither shelves nor paper.
I mention the space industry because there’s a lot of overlap between that and the defense industrial complex in engineering terms. NRO had a couple hubble-sized telescopes laying around they built and didn’t use. USAF has their own space shuttle. They’re currently planning to update all of our ICBMs. They could move other payloads to orbit. We don’t even need ICBMs, with submarine-launched missiles, even the new ones will be obsolete bulls-eyes for nukes in the midwest.
Anthony Blinken said “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”. The US sure lives by the law of the jungle in international relations. Although this has been the case for centuries, this style of foreign policy really got going with WWII. Our country’s war materiel production was behind what was necessary at the time to participate in a 2-front global war. Soldiers were training with cardboard weapons, but because we hadn’t outsourced our production offshore, we created an economy based on war that was so lucrative for business that that economy has lasted to this day. Such is it that a war economy itself can conquer a nation. Eisenhower warned about this in his farewell address.
There’s protecting a country from invasion, and then there’s basing a country’s whole economy on a continuation of arms sales. The latter provides a perverse incentive to destabilize regions in order to maintain demand for the American arms industry. In the case of defense of the US against invasion, are you honestly suggesting that the country with the highest private gun ownership rate in the world has that to fear in any scenario? Even if we did need a military at all, one that could appropriately be called a department of “defense” would be a tenth of its current size.
Speaking of deceased sex traffickers, the anthem for the Nazi SA was memorializing a dead pimp, Horst Wessel. They named a boat after him. It’s now a US Coast Guard training ship.
In a way, he’s right. You can’t expect a trillion dollar private company to do anything but maximize profits any way they can get away with. It’s in the interest of the public to overthrow capitalism and the responsibility falls on us to understand this and do this. ExxonMobil exists with the consent of the masses.
The animal industries have their own lobbying and disinformation campaigns. The pro-corporate media environment is an inextricable part of capitalist society. Their CEOs and those of Exxon et al are all basically saying “we’re doing what we’re permitted to do, it’s your job to reign us in for any social good whatsoever”. Any rational actor in a society that permits this will do this if given the opportunity. They’re products of their environment. Sometimes they’ll get ratioed on X, and agree to some small concession, a mere unconscious twitch of the power of the people causing multibillion $ companies to yelp in terror.
Usually NYT can be found with their lips on the metaphorical ring of the neoliberal western order, so if they’re not full-throated in support of one of its champions, that’s a little interesting but not very.
It's movie night. You don't know who's coming but you have to pick a movie everyone vibes with. What do you choose?
NYT op-ed: Government Surveillance Keeps Us Safe (www.nytimes.com)
Paywall bypass: archive.today/KYV3b...
Meta Refuses to Answer Questions on Gaza Censorship, Say Sens. Warren and Sanders (theintercept.com)
Deconstructed podcast interview about the piece with the journalist:...
Your Computer Isn't Yours: Apple stores every program Mac users run, and when and where they ran it (sneak.berlin)
Edit: Guys I didn't write the headline; the subtitle that I added, I've now fixed tho...
18+ Ngl everytime I see this meme template the lizard part of my brain does a backflip (midwest.social)
Evergrande: China property giant and its founder accused of $78bn fraud (www.bbc.com)
Trump II Architect Russ Vought Embraces A Christian Nationalist Vision For America (talkingpointsmemo.com)
These are the people tasked with developing policy for a second Trump administration. If you’re not deeply scared of what they’re proposing, you are not paying attention.
Opinion on modular vehicles with standardized parts?
I’ve started to hate SUV, MUV and MPV. I’ve been thinking about how buses may be an ideal transportation, but in reality, it will probably not be feasible to have an entire transport system running on buses, right? Maybe a bit of rickshaws and mini-taxis too? And also compact private vehicles?...
Jared Kushner says Gaza’s ‘waterfront property could be very valuable’ (www.theguardian.com)
Imagine being afraid of immodest women in the gym (midwest.social)
Research shows that people who BS are more likely to fall for BS | Waterloo News (uwaterloo.ca)
Out of sight, Afghans are going hungry: Taliban abuses exacerbate impact on women and girls, rights group says (www.hrw.org)
According to the United Nations, in 2024, 23.7 million people – more than half of the country’s population – will need humanitarian assistance. The statistics are startling: 69 percent of people do not have enough food; 67 percent have trouble accessing water, worsened by a prolonged drought linked to climate change; the...
If a person from 1700 asked you your job, would they understand your answer, and if not, how would you explain it to them?
Slava Ukraini (lemm.ee)
Charlotte Church says family threatened over Gaza support (www.infoterkiniviral.com)
Charlotte Church has revealed that she and her family have been subjected to police checks due to safety concerns following threats
Former Republican Candidate for U.S. House Is Charged With Murder (www.nytimes.com)
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Why Do So Many Mental Illnesses Overlap? (www.scientificamerican.com)
ExxonMobil CEO blames climate crisis on the public, stirring outrage (www.motherjones.com)
Yeah it would actually be quite the opposite (midwest.social)
There is something wrong at the New York Times (www.salon.com)