retrospectology

retrospectology, 10 hours ago

Kind of, it’s more important to actual check where a candidate or sitting politician got their campaign funding. That’s the way to know if it’s a corpo Republican Lite or an actual progressive.

Opensecrets.org is a great resource for this, just go to the campaign finance section and look up a politician.

Makes it easy to avoid voting for people who take AIPAC money and stuff.

retrospectology, 18 hours ago (edited 16 hours ago)

They killed all the people in Gaza who would be kerping track of this kind of thing, there simply isn’t any infrastructure left. Gazans are eating hand to mouth because that’s all they can do right now (if they’re the lucky ones).

retrospectology, 18 hours ago

I like how they threw in the marajuna thing as some kind of economic help since there really isn’t anything more to brag about.

retrospectology, 18 hours ago (edited 16 hours ago)

And it was Sanders who actually got the Insulin reduction through, Biden just kind of accepted it as a win once it became inevitable.

People’s memory is so freaking short.

retrospectology, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

Combined with how easy it is becoming to create an AI copy of a person’s voice you’re pretty soon not going to ever be sure if what you’re saying or hearing on a phone is actually what’s being said or if it’s being edited in real time. China’s gonna love this shit.

Really hate tech bros who just keep recklessly pushing ahead on this stuff. Absolutely the worst scenario for AI.

retrospectology, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

Some quotes from David Ben-Gurion, one of the early zionist founders of Israel:

“A partial Jewish State is not the end, but only the beginning. … I am certain that we well not be prevented from settling in the other parts of the country, either by mutual agreements with our Arab neighbors or by some other means. . . [If the Arabs refuse] we shall have to speak to them in another language. But we shall only have another language if we have a state.”

“I don’t understand your optimism,’ Ben-Gurion declared. 'Why should the Arabs make peace? If I were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: THEY THINK we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it’s true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?”

"Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves … politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country. … Behind the terrorism [by the Arabs] is a movement, which though primitive is not devoid of idealism and self sacrifice.”

Or one of my favorites from his diary:

"We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return.”

It’s with that context in mind that the recent genocidal rhetoric from Israeli officials makes more sense:

“In order to preserve the security achievements that our soldiers lost their lives for, we must resettle Gaza with security forces and settlers that will embrace the land with love,” Karhi said. He said that “this is the only real way to make the Hamas Nazis pay a price and to defend our nation and country.”

Ben-Gvir also spoke at the march, saying that what the protesters are calling for was the “true solution.”[source]

Or when Netanyahu compared the Gazans to “Amalek” an ancient tribe from a story in the Torah that the tribe of Israel genocided. Or when they describe Palestinians as “human animals” etc.

Israel has always been a European colonial project from the very beginning and violence has always one of the primary means of ensuring settlement is possible. One thing many people don’t realize is that the Zionist colonial project was in motion long before WWII, as far back as the late 1800s. They saw WWII and the holocaust as an opportunity thus quotes like:

“The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as a war.” -David Ben-Gurion, 1937

Or after the holocaust:

“If I knew that it was possible to save all the children of Germany by transporting them to England, and only half by transferring them to the Land of Israel, I would choose the latter, for before us lies not only the numbers of these children but the historical reckoning of the people of Israel.”

What we cannot do now is let Zionists argue that “Every nation had genocide in its founding, it’s inevitable” because this is happening right now, we are witnessing it. We can’t discuss it as if it’s some regretable historical fact. The reason we say “never again” is to prepare people for times like what are happening right now. We’re all under a moral mandate to stop this from happening.

retrospectology, 1 day ago

No one is denying the holocaust happened. What the actual fuck? God damn that is insidious.

All you’re doing is trying to soft-sell the justification that Zionists use for their on-going genocide, you’re basically claiming they had no choice but to take land from someone else, which is complete bullshit.

When you compare the rhetoric and methods of the Israeli colonial project to every other crime against humanity committed by Europeans during and preceding that period it’s the same game plan because it’s the same racist, far-right playbook. The Israeli settlers were Europeans and had zero claim to the region they took over, Ben-Gurion himself even acknowledges that.

They are there now, Israel is not going anywhere, but the fact that they are an actively expanding colonial state has not changed, it does not justify their continued occupation of Palestinian land nor the wholesale slaughter of the people in Gaza. That is what the discussion needs to be centered on.

retrospectology, 1 day ago

You know how in the ancient past there was the dude who ate the toxic mushroom and everyone else was like “Damn!”

That’s the role Americans are playing here, pushing the frontiers of what’s edible so you don’t have to. It’s a public service really.

retrospectology, 1 day ago

Oh man! Yeah, I think…I think I can feel I can feel my economic conditions rising!..any minute now…

…oh, no nevermind, was just a fart.

retrospectology, 1 day ago

Totally, this is why when a bank robber goes in and holds a bunch of people hostage in a bank, the police block all the entrances, turn off the water and electricity and bomb the entire city block that the bank is on into rubble.

After all, people living in the apartment buildings in such close proximity to the bank are probably bank robbers themselves, so they basically have it coming.

retrospectology, 2 days ago

Aint no snitch.

retrospectology, 2 days ago

If a 5ft trans woman who started transitioning when she was a teen faces off against a 6ft cis volleyball player, should the cis woman be not allowed to compete?

What about cis olympians? They all have natural advantages that make their ability to compete at high levels possible, why are you not calling for them to be banned? Britney Griner is a giant at nearly 7ft, surely she shouldn’t be allowed to compete when she has such a innate advantage over your average cis woman, right?

retrospectology, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

It kind of borders on delusion if I’m being honest.

Remember when everyone was completely losing their shit about Laurel Hubbard, the trans powerlifter who had qualified for the olympics? Remember how everyone was claiming she was going to smash records and take the gold etc.?

Now, what did we see in reality? Laurel Hubbard didn’t even place. She got beat out by her cis competitors, she broke no records, she fell within the same range of ability as cis women.

Where does this fact leave people’s theory about “the men will always win”?

Edit: I see now you were being sarcastic. In any case I’ll leave the response as is, since people do think like that. Changed it to be a less pointy, lol.

retrospectology, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

No, we saw a trans woman who had radically altered her biological make-up through use of female hormones, train rigorously, and then perform within the same range as cis women, ultimately failing to place and looking at retirement.

And now we see you in denial about that factual reality because you simply can’t get over your hate. You’re letting your emotions rule your thinking on this.

Also, you’re not even correct about the age being some massive barrier, Lidia Valentin also competed in olympics at 36, going so far as to weigh in for the subsequent Olympics and only ultimatelt retired due to an injury.

It’s irrational to ban people based simply on their status of being trans as trans people vary widely in their physical ability and biological make-up.

retrospectology, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

Yes, the rules that have been in place about transition time have served fine since even before right-wingers politicized trans people’s existence.

The irrational part is to try and create blanket bans based solely on the fact that an athlete is trans.

It completely ignores the fact that trans biology falls on a very wide spectrum and is dependent on numerous factors. It doesn’t make sense to treat trans athletes as their assigned at birth sex because their biology is literally no longer that of their birth gender. It varies by degrees, but it is no more fair to ban a cis woman for being tall than it is to ban a trans woman for being the same height.

So no, it is not transphobic to have rules and regulations specific to trans athletes when it comes to competitive level sports (whatever experts and committees decide is fair based on actual data) it is transphobic to just outright ban trans people based solely on that status and ignore the biological reality of the individual and whether or not they fall within the range of cis competitors (spoiler, most do).

It’s really stupid for people to get this outraged about a tiny percentage of the population, an even smaller percentage of which actually compete at high levels.

retrospectology, 2 days ago

When Florida is underwater I don’t want those shit heads coming up to my state.

retrospectology, 2 days ago

Kind of a stupid question given that I just condemed killing children.

Guess what, Hamas killing people doesn’t justify Israel slaughtering civilians, especially not at this extreme, reckless and disproportionate scale.

retrospectology, 2 days ago

Which is why so many people simply cannot put their name in support of Biden and AIPAC democrats.

There’s pragmatic politics and then there’s supporting actual genocide. For many people that line is something they just won’t ever compromise on because it’s so unequivocally immoral, there’s no justification to actively support it.

Personally if he doesn’t reverse course there’s no way I’m voting for this. I’ve lived through one Trump presidency, I’ll do it again if I have to and find other ways to resist.

If Democrats can’t do better than genocide they can’t demand my vote.

retrospectology, 2 days ago (edited 2 days ago)

No, who said that? Voting uncommitted is a valid third option when Democrats don’t give you someone you can morally vote for.

retrospectology, 1 day ago

No. It is a genocide.

Even Netanyahu admitted it was analagous to the genocide of the Amakelites in the Torah fairy tale.

There is no debate here, it is a genocide and you are a supporter.

retrospectology, 1 day ago

Who said I was voting for Trump?

Biden can easily get my vote, there’s literally only one thing he has to do; stop supporting genocide. It’s not rocket science. Don’t like the idea of him losing? Then you need to be doing everything in your power to communicate to him that he needs to do a 180 on this issue. People aren’t going to vote for him because you try to badger and shame them, didn’t work in 2016, won’t work now.

retrospectology, 2 days ago

So I’m going to just tell you this; what you’re doing above is not convincing anyone.

Given that factual reality, you then have to ask yourself, as someone who probably likes to believe that you’re pragmatic and worldly; if your strategy for convincing millions of voters to support Democrats inspite of their increasingly fascist, right-wing tendencies is not working, what are your other practical options for actually helping Biden win.

And remember, this might involve changing your politics, or getting off the fence and actually doing something etc.

In any case, it’s a rhetorical question, since I’ll be blocking you. Think about it though, think about 2016 and how badly your political strategy failed this country then. Consider changing.

retrospectology, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

What? Biden is the one playing chicken with our democracy, all he has to do is not give the middle finger to people who want him to stop funding a genocide. It’s not like anyone is even expecting him to fight for healthcare or climate change or anything, literally just the very bare minimum of not sending money and arms to kill children and people would stomach voting for him. But no, you won’t even compromise on that.

You honestly sound like you don’t actually believe in the democratic process at all “Vote how I want you to or you don’t deserve a vote.”

No wonder you guys and the Republicans go together like hand and glove.

retrospectology, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago)

You people are rotten and need to be cut out of the process before you kill us all

retrospectology, 2 days ago

Sounds like diminishing returns. Congrats to Hillary Clinton though! Hopefully they gave her a trophy or something.