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nicklloydnow · 5 months

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“This is not an all-out war but a decentralized one with seemingly unconnected fronts that span across continents. It is fought in a hybrid style, meaning both with tanks and planes and with disinformation campaigns, political interference, and cyberwarfare. The strategy blurs the lines between war and peace and combatants and civilians. It puts a lot of extra fog in the "fog of war."

China, Russia, and Iran disagree on many things, but they all have the same goal: ridding their regions of U.S. influence and creating a multipolar global governance system and Tehran, Beijing, and Moscow know that U.S. political and military might is the only force preventing them from imposing their will on their neighbors.

(…)

When it comes to this war, the United States is asleep at the wheel. U.S. strategy has been about preparation for a large conventional war, containment, and weak deterrence. Washington has been pitifully absent in the irregular warfare field. There are almost no punishments or accountability—besides ineffective sanctions—for the nations that attack us.

(…)

Should the Biden administration continue its ineffective course, these countries will only be emboldened. Should support for Israel or Ukraine fail, China will be more likely to invade Taiwan. Deterrence is a great strategy but only works when the other side believes you will carry out your threats. You must establish that understanding by holding your enemies accountable for moves they take against you.

(…)

The Biden administration's support for Ukraine has been a rare show of force that has sent a strong message to the world. But it isn't enough. The U.S. foreign policy establishment must recognize the hybrid war being waged against it and show up on the irregular field of battle. Like it or not, the United States is the guarantor of stability in the world. By retreating from its responsibilities, the only thing Washington is guaranteeing is dark times ahead.”

“The list encompasses not just the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, but hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, Serbian military measures against Kosovo, fighting in Eastern Congo, complete turmoil in Sudan since April, and a fragile cease-fire in Tigray that Ethiopia seems poised to break at any time. Syria and Yemen have not exactly been quiet during this period, and gangs and cartels continuously menace governments, including those in Haiti and Mexico. All of this comes on top of the prospect of a major war breaking out in East Asia, such as by China invading the island of Taiwan.

The Uppsala Conflict Data Program, which has been tracking wars globally since 1945, identified 2022 and 2023 as the most conflictual years in the world since the end of the Cold War. Back in January 2023, before many of the above conflicts erupted, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed sounded the alarm, noting that peace “is now under grave threat” across the globe. The seeming cascade of conflict gives rise to one obvious question: Why?

(…)

The first explanation holds that the cascade is in the eye of the beholder. People are too easily “fooled by randomness,” the essayist and statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb admonished in his 2001 book of the same title, seeking intentional explanations for what may be coincidence. The flurry of armed confrontations could be just such a phenomenon, concealing no deeper meaning: Some of the frozen conflicts, for instance, were due for flare-ups or had gone quiet only recently. Today’s volume of wars, in other words, should be viewed as little more than a series of unfortunate events that could recur or worsen at any time.

(…)

Although coincidences certainly do occur, the current onslaught happens to be taking place at a time of big changes in the international system. The era of Pax Americana appears to be over, and the United States is no longer poised to police the world. Not that Pax Americana was necessarily so peaceful. The 1990s were especially disputatious; civil wars arose on multiple continents, as did major wars in Europe and Africa. But the United States attempted to solve and contain many potential conflicts: Washington led a coalition to oust Saddam Hussein’s Iraq from Kuwait, facilitated the Oslo Process to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, fostered improved relations between North and South Korea, and encouraged the growth of peacekeeping operations around the globe. Even following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the invasion of Afghanistan was supported by many in the international community as necessary to remove a pariah regime and enable a long-troubled nation to rebuild. War was not over, but humanity seemed closer than ever to finding a formula for lasting peace.

Over the subsequent decades, the United States seemed to fritter away both the goodwill needed to support such efforts and the means to carry them out. By the early 2010s, the United States was bogged down in two losing wars and recovering from a financial crisis. The world, too, had changed, with power ebbing from Washington’s singular pole to multiple emerging powers. As then–Secretary of State John Kerry remarked in a 2013 interview in The Atlantic, “We live in a world more like the 18th and 19th centuries.” And a multipolar world, where several great powers jostle for advantage on the global stage, harbors the potential for more conflicts, large and small.

Specifically, China has emerged as a great power seeking to influence the international system, whether by leveraging the economic allure of its Belt and Road Initiative or by militarily revising the status quo within its region. Russia does not have China’s economic muscle, but it, too, seeks to dominate its region, establish itself as an influential global player, and revise the international order. Whether Russia or China is yet on an economic or military par with the United States hardly matters. Both are strong enough to challenge the U.S.-led international order by leveraging the revisionist sentiment they share with countries throughout the global South.

(…)

Suppose, though, that the proliferation of wars doesn’t have a systemic cause, but an entirely particular one. That the world owes its present state of unrest directly to Russia—and, even more specifically, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022 and its decision to continue fighting since.

The war in Ukraine, the largest war in Europe since World War II and one poised to continue well past 2024, is absorbing the attention of international actors who otherwise would have been well positioned to prevent any of the abovementioned crises from escalating. This case is not the same as the great-power distraction, in which the world’s most powerful states simply fail to focus on emerging crises. Rather, the great powers lack the diplomatic and military capacity to respond to conflicts beyond Ukraine—and other actors know it.

(…)

These three explanations—coincidence, multipolarity, Russia’s war in Ukraine—are not mutually exclusive. If anything, they are interrelated, as wars are complex events; the decline of U.S. hegemony contributes to growing multipolarity; and great-power competition has surely fed Russia’s aggression and the West’s response. The consequence is that others are caught in the great-power cross fire or will seek to start fires of their own. Even if none of these wars rise to the level of a third world war, they will be devastating all the same. We do not need to be in a world war to be in a world at war.

Wars were already a persistent feature of the international system. But they were not widespread. War was always happening somewhere, in other words, but war was not happening everywhere. The above dynamics could change that tendency. The prevalence of war, not just its persistence, could now be our future.”

#world war 3 #wwiii #russia #ukraine #israel #hamas #iran #china #taiwan #deterrence

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dhaaruni · 1 year

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Looking ahead to 2024 (never too early, haha), do you think Dems controlling the Senate and having a 50-50ish House could actually hurt them? My fear is that Dems will pretty much have to own whatever happens over the next two years, whereas if the GOP had won both chambers, Dems in 2024 could have more easily campaigned against them.

Also, to the extent that the midterm fallout hurts Trump and boosts DeSantis, I worry that Dems will be facing a decent GOP nominee in 2024 who they're going to underestimate. Anyway, sorry to rain on what was a shockingly good week for us!

I agree with you both in that the 2024 Senate map is a bloodbath for Democrats since we hold Ohio/Montana/West Virginia Senate seats, which are likely to flip red since people don't ticket split anymore. So, I agree with @ladyofpembroke the DSCC should focus on protecting Brown/Tester/Manchin as well as Baldwin/Casey/Stabenow/Sinema in Wisconsin/Pennsylvania/Michigan/Arizona as well since especially is Harris is the nominee, there's no guarantee she wins those states either although I think Biden wins the latter 4 and carries those Dem Senators over as well.

But here's the key thing: voters don't really know the difference between a 219 Republican House majority and a 290 seat Republican House majority, they just know Rs hold the House, so when Republicans overreach and repeatedly say and do insane shit, voters will punish them. Also, if Democrats hold a trifecta, they'll be held accountable for things that aren't even their fault like government gridlock due to the filibuster but if Rs hold the House, Dems can just blame them for the gridlock.

And, I'll worry about DeSantis once he's polling above Trump in primary polls when weighted by education lol.

#answered #politics #zuko-is-crazy #ladyofpembroke

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cmntaket · 2 years

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I've gotta say it. To those of you in the "We need make these changes to protect the children" camp:

YOU are YOUR child's protector. I am MY child's protector.

I am ALL that stands in the way of any threat, physical or otherwise, seeking to harm my children.

For you to suggest that, for the sake of all that is warm and fuzzy, I give up my most effective means of carrying out that daily duty and honor so that you can FEEL a certain way, is no less narcissistic and disgusting than the views of the psychos carrying out these acts in the name of whatever their particular cause is.

If you think for one second that words on a piece of paper are going to stop evil people from doing evil things, your ignorance is without measure. A killer is going to kill, it doesn't matter what tool they have available to them. Someone intent on inflicting harm isn't going to change their mind simply because they might not be able to get their hands on an AR. Home depot sells hammers, and a litany of other objects with which one can easily commit murder... without a background check.

If you think that I, or anyone for that matter, should rid ourselves of our most effective means of protecting OUR children, in favor of helping other people's children FEEL like they're safe, then I'm sorry, your misguided "compassion" has evolved into full blown delusion bordering on mental illness. If your intent is to have me decrease the security of MY children "to protect" OTHER PEOPLE'S children, I very much question your morals, sanity and ability to think/reason.

Bad guys have big guns? Yes

The ever increasingly tyrannical government have big guns? Yes

If you get into a fight and you're unable to respond to your aggressor with AT LEAST equal force, you are going to lose, there is no arguing that whatsoever.

The purpose of 2A was not to ensure we could go hunting. Its purpose is ensuring that WE THE PEOPLE can protect ourselves from inherent evils.

Oh, and...

Fuck Joe biden

That is all

#2nd ammendment #2A #freedom #tyranny #uvalde #buffalo #justice #guns #come and take em #FJB #letsgobrandon

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pscottm · 21 days

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Trump and Nebraska governor push to deny Biden a crucial electoral vote | Semafor

Donald Trump and Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen endorsed legislation that would take Omaha’s potentially decisive electoral vote out of play for Democrats, hours after conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s Tuesday X post suggesting it.

In just 200 words, Kirk urged Republicans to repeal the state’s 1991 law that assigned two electors to the winner of the state, and one for each of its three congressional districts. Republicans easily carried Nebraska in every subsequent election, but in 2008 and 2020, the Omaha-based 2nd District voted Democratic.

“Nebraskans should call their legislators and their governor to demand their state stop pointlessly giving strength to their political enemies,” wrote Kirk.

Five hours and 10 minutes later, Pillen put out a statement supporting a bill that would convert the state to a winner-take all system in November.

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bookoformon · 1 month

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Mormon, Chapter 6, Part 2. "The Forthcoming."

Mormon is Hebrew for "the Pillar of the Myrrh" also "Balm for the Oppressed." Moroni, who is reintroduced here means "Blood of the Grape."

There is also a mention of the Plates of Nephi which have been abridged to include "a marriage" that binds all of mankind together, a term called Mashiach, "global ethical government", which is the successful conclusion of all religion for all time.

Plates are not dinner plates, they are "reflective surfaces" each which names an attribute or tenet that decree how mankind is to demonstate aspects of the Law. While the entire Book of Mormon is such a plate, the Prophet has identified Gold Plates, which he did describe, presumably these are the Torah itself, there are Brass Plates which contain the Wars named in the Book of Mormon, the Nephite Plates are also decentralized throughout the Book. Finally There are Jaredite Plates, 12 of each that contain Spiritual and Temporal Commandments upon them. We are in search of the 12 Temporal Plates, the others have been defined by this forum. One presumes these, like the others will be identified by name before the end of the Scripture.

Mormon 6 warns against letting ignorant person have access to the Plates. Something weird, like 17 million ravishing incestous pedophiles might try to take the government down or dig like prairie dogs underneath a town near you. Shivers!

In spite of the gross misinterpretation of the Book of Mormon, it served the most important purpose in religious history- it ended slavery, setting the black man and black woman free, and it proved God can speak to us through His Spirit and motivate us to carry out His Will and do something remarkably good. No other religious tract can claim this.

Its first converts were all murdered for doing it, then Brigham Young and his freaky flock hauled ass into Utah. Now all of us are good and fucked because President Biden turned his back on them, allowed them to become weaponized and they are scaring the world to death.

The same Book that was once the cause of a great liberation is now the cause of some of the boldest terrorism in world history. Mormon warned this could happen:

6 And it came to pass that when we had gathered in all our people in one to the land of Cumorah, behold I, Mormon, began to be old; and knowing it to be the last struggle of my people, and having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites, (for the Lamanites would destroy them) therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni.

7 And it came to pass that my people, with their wives and their children, did now behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked, did they await to receive them.

Unfortunately, the modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints needs to be labeled a terrorist organization. It needs to stop tithing and Its assets need to be used to pay off its victims, its members forbidden from gathering ever again. The Book can easily be studied in Yeshiva, it's contents were composed using Hebrew Gematria, the whole thing needs to be decrypted and explained in English. Such an amazing phenomenon must be studied and used properly, it would be such a waste to let this opportunity go to waste.

The world will not miss its former stakeholders, not in the least.

The Values in Gematria for the above verses follow:

v. 6a: And it came to pass that when we had gathered in all our people in one to the land of Cumorah, behold I, Mormon, began to be old; and knowing it to be the last struggle of my people. The Value in Gematria is 8806, חחאֶפֶסו‎, "He caught them."

v. 6b: And having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites, (for the Lamanites would destroy them). The Value in Gematria is 10928, אאֶפֶסטבח‎ ‎ ‎Apfestbah, "An epistle."

v. 6c: Therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni. The Value in Gematria is 10100, יאאֶפֶסאֶפֶס, Jaapesapes, "which they missed."

v. 7a: And it came to pass that my people, with their wives and their children, did now behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked. The Value in Gematria is 12471, יבדזא‎ ‎ ‎yabadza, "You will lose this one."

v. 7b: Of all the wicked, did they await to receive them. The Value in Gematria is 3782, ג‎ז‎חב‎, gezhab, "The shearing will be forthcoming." also "The golden."

I believe in prophecy and feel the above reinforces what I have been saying. The next generation of convert to the Book of Mormon will carry its modern torch of spirituality, but not this one. This one needs to go into the furnace.

If you have not broken the law and believe in God, the Christ and the Book of Mormon are all real and are young enough to hope the world will still be here in a few weeks, then its burden of creating an America that is finally truly free of corruption and evil falls on you.

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xtruss · 9 months

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North Korea 🇰🇵 Spurns Talks Offer From ‘Gangster-Like Americans'! Pyongyang Has Insisted The Country’s Nuclear ☢️ Program Cannot Be Stopped

North Korea's Kim Yo-jong arrives at a 2018 Olympics ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea. © Patrick Semansky — Pool/Getty Images

North Korea has dismissed a US proposal for talks as a ploy, accusing Washington of provoking conflict in the region while holding out false hope that it can persuade Pyongyang to halt its nuclear weapons program by temporarily easing sanctions or suspending military exercises.

Kim Yo-jong, North Korea’s foreign policy chief and sister of leader Kim Jong-un, said on Monday that the best way to ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula is for Pyongyang to amply display its military might, “rather than solving the problem with the gangster-like Americans in a friendly manner.” She called Washington’s latest offer of negotiations a “trick” to buy time for trying to denuclearize the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Biden ‘Old Man With No Future’ — Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong Un’s Sister

“It is a daydream for the US to think that it can stop the advance of the DPRK and, furthermore, achieve irreversible disarmament” by offering such reversible incentives as sanctions relief, suspension of the Pentagon’s joint military exercises with South Korea and a halt to deployment of strategic weapons in the region, Kim Yo-jong said in a statement carried by state-run news agency KCNA.

Test firing of a new intercontinental ballistic missile "Hwasong-18" at an undisclosed location in North Korea 🇰🇵. © AFP/KCNA

Kim made her comments one day after US President Joe Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, told reporters that Washington was willing to negotiate with North Korea “without preconditions” concerning its nuclear weapons program. He said the Biden administration is closely monitoring the threats posed by North Korea’s missile launches and is concerned that Pyongyang will conduct its seventh nuclear warhead test.

Kim said the US should stop its “foolish” provocations toward the DPRK, which have only imperiled Washington’s own security. “We are aware that lurking behind the present US administration’s proposal for dialogue without any preconditions is a trick to prevent the thing that it fears from happening again.”

Even if the US were to go as far as removing all of its troops from South Korea in exchange for permanent denuclearization by Pyongyang, it could redeploy strategic weapons to the peninsula within 10 hours and bring back enough soldiers to resume joint exercises within 20 days, Kim said. She added that any promises made by the current administrations in Washington and Seoul could be “instantly reversed” when their successors come to power, such as when Biden replaced Donald Trump in the White House.

Similarly, Kim said the US and its allies could easily renege on diplomatic concessions. “It is as easy as pie for the US political circles to exclude the DPRK from the list of ‘sponsors of terrorism’ today but re-list it tomorrow.” She claimed that tensions in the region have escalated on Biden’s watch to the point that “the possibility of an actual armed conflict and even the outbreak of a nuclear war is debated.”

— RT, July 17, 2023

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thesheel · 1 year

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Democrats face a merciless defeat in the Virginia gubernatorial elections, and they might be worried about losing the state they carried easily during the last presidential election. However, the unfortunate events for Democrats might turn out to be a blessing in disguise, serving as an eye-opener for them. A defeat in the gubernatorial election should be enough to make them cautious going forward, considering that they still have a handsome amount of time to make a recovery. Democrats focused their campaign message on “Trump,” thinking that they may get around the former president’s wrongdoings in the elections a year later. However, this did not play well for them. It is high time for Democrats to set their priorities right and rescue their grassroots strategy if they want to see a difference in the 2022 midterm elections. [caption id="attachment_10986" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Terry McAuliffe had a weak grassroot political campaign which lost him the election. Instead of contacting the voters on the basic level, he emphasized on the wrong messaging tactics.[/caption] Democrats Lost the Elections the Very Day They Understaffed Their Grassroot Efforts While the Democrats overall reputation declined before the elections, mostly due to their inability to pass any bill of Biden’s agenda, various failed campaign tactics helped them lose the elections that Democrats could have avoided even though Biden’s popularity had nosedived at the federal level. Usually, Democratic candidates in Virginia have had at least five field staffers to strengthen their grassroots efforts and keep contact with the voters at the very basic level. However, this time only one staffer was placed in many competitive districts that helped Republicans win the elections. Democrats had a strong grassroots campaign the last time McAuliffe won the election, but reportedly this time, most volunteer recruits were trained during COVID time, resulting in less experience in acting as a field volunteer and contacting voters face to face. Thus, the inappropriate training of the volunteer force, complemented by the lack of staffing for Democrats, ultimately resulted in the Democrats’ loss. The Democrats had previously won the 2013 gubernatorial elections in Virginia. Back then, Democrats had more than 200 field staff for GOTC efforts, but as time progressed, the retention rate for those people declined, thus pushing Democrats on the back foot. All the physical apparatus decayed while people moved on from the campaigns, leaving Democrats unanswerable on many fronts. [caption id="attachment_10987" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Glenn Youngkin was a political newcomer but capaigned on the grassroot level very well, which translated his efforts into success,[/caption] Democrats Do not Groom Politicians; Republicans Do Another vulnerability of the Democrats that helped Republicans clinch the seat was the lack of political support for the not-so-recognizable candidates. Reportedly, Republicans breed potential politicians right from the very beginning, starting from the school level, and helping them climb up the leader periodically. Contrary to that, Democrats often fail to promote a candidate who is even second in the race until the final GOTV push. The case of the Virginia gubernatorial elections tells the same story. The fact that Glenn Youngkin managed to win a seat despite being a political newcomer, defeating the veteran politicians, depicts the diversity of support he enjoyed from Republican ranks. It is widely believed that future political leaders take time to groom, and if political parties can raise them right from the very start, they are investing in the future of their party. Nonetheless, as it happened, Democrats need to go back to basics to recalibrate their ground-level efforts if they want to stand a chance in the upcoming elections. Final Thoughts Fixing federal priorities should

never be underestimated, and every issue unfolding at the federal level must be addressed to attract voters toward elections, and ignoring field efforts is also like axing one’s own feet. The polls already indicated that a close race was expected between the two contenders; however, better field efforts could have changed the polls heavily in Democratic favor. Democrats overall failed to materialize the resources they had for the campaign and went the wrong route to find the victory that they never got.

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ausetkmt · 1 year

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Reason: Elon Musk Should Take a Clear Stand Against Censorship by Proxy

Reason: Elon Musk Should Take a Clear Stand Against Censorship by Proxy.

Elon Musk Should Take a Clear Stand Against Censorship by Proxy

The most disturbing aspect of the “Twitter Files” is the platform’s cozy relationship with federal officials who demanded suppression of speech they considered dangerous.

JACOB SULLUM | 12.14.2022 12:01 AM

Elon Musk should take a clear stand against censorship by proxy on Twitter.

(Adrien Fillon/Zuma Press/Newscom)

From the outside, Twitter's content moderation decisions look haphazard at best. From the inside, they look worse, especially because government officials play an unseemly and arguably unconstitutional role in shaping those decisions.

The internal communications that Elon Musk, Twitter's new owner, has been gradually revealing to a select few journalists show that the company's former executives arbitrarily applied the platform's vague rules and surreptitiously suppressed content from disfavored accounts. The "Twitter Files" also confirm that the company had a cozy relationship with federal agencies, allowing them to indirectly censor speech they deemed dangerous.

Musk, a self-described "free speech absolutist," is trying to signal that things will be different under his ownership. He faces a daunting challenge as he attempts to implement lighter moderation policies without abandoning all content restrictions, lest Twitter become a "free-for-all hellscape" that alienates users and advertisers.

One part of that mission should be relatively straightforward. Musk could make it clear that neither government bureaucrats nor elected officials have any business dictating what Twitter's rules should be or how they should be enforced.

Musk took a significant step in that direction last month by rescinding Twitter's ban on "COVID-19 misinformation," a nebulous category that ranged from verifiably false assertions of fact to demonstrably or arguably true statements that were deemed "misleading" or contrary to government advice. That policy invited censorship by proxy, giving the Biden administration an excuse to enforce obeisance to an ever-evolving "scientific consensus" by publicly and privately pressuring Twitter to crack down on speech that officials viewed as a threat to public health.

The Twitter Files show that the company also collaborated with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in identifying and suppressing "election misinformation," another ill-defined category open to wide interpretation. Executives enforcing that policy regularly conferred with those agencies, and they privately recognized that such coziness would be controversial if it were publicly acknowledged.

The reason for that reticence should be obvious. It is one thing for a platform to enforce its own content restrictions, even if it does so in a way that is widely viewed as unfair, inconsistent, or politically biased. But when that platform takes its cues from the government, private moderation decisions can easily become a cover for unconstitutional speech restrictions.

Because the government has the power to make life difficult for social media companies through castigation, regulation, litigation, and legislation, its "requests" always carry an implicit threat. It is therefore not surprising that Twitter and other major platforms have been eager to fall in line.

Musk himself seems confused about the issues at stake here. He tends to conflate "freedom of speech" with freedom from private content restrictions and misleadingly implies that Twitter's broad ban on "hateful conduct," which he is still avowedly committed to enforcing, applies only to speech that fits within judicially recognized exceptions to the First Amendment.

Musk's confusion was apparent last week, when Rep. Adam Schiff (D‒Calif.) said he was "demanding action" in response to an "unacceptable" rise in "hate speech" on Twitter since Musk took over the platform in late October. Musk responded by questioning the evidence that Schiff cited, saying "hate speech impressions are actually down by 1/3 for Twitter now vs prior to acquisition."

Instead of getting bogged down in a debate about whether Twitter has in fact been overrun by bigots on his watch, Musk should have asked why Schiff thinks he has the authority to demand the censorship of speech that offends him. The First Amendment, which bars Congress from "abridging the freedom of speech," is pretty clear on that point.

Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald laments that "dictating to social media companies what they can and can't platform, how they must censor, the role Democratic politicians play in all this, is just assumed as normal." Musk is well-positioned to challenge that assumption, and he could start by telling Schiff to mind his own business.

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the-firebird69 · 2 years

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It's a huge day and nothing space bigger right now huge fleets are headed towards Titan and their foreigners and their empire they are massive I'm done some who decided with the empire not many it's about one if the fleet 1/100 or less I'm told it's 1/1000 it's more like someone in the middle of that it's a very small number out of about 5 billion ships they're only about 300 million who are siding with the empire but are not true max and they're not molok there are different races like Biden and so forth who are kind of forced into it the rest are actually fighting them and there's Trump's fleet it's about $300 million soon 200 million versus 5 billion ships the odds are very bad and their firepower is half of what it was and it's a millionth of both fleets coming out and combined and really it looks like their whole fleet was launched each side it's going to be a huge war in space and we have everything up and fully loaded and no kidding this is a huge amount it's gigantic it all seeking these two races they say they made the race there and went to space to make tons of them to possibly put them back in time using power or machine and everybody is going to fight over it probably to the death it's brilliant see it's wise and what's going on and really they're mostly all concentrated on Titan and Hoth and Saturn there's some contingents going to Venus but they're very small and eliminated very quickly by the others

They're up and out all of them in approximately 15 minutes be the remainder of the fleets and these people on TV and it will probably go to reruns and other things like that shortly even maybe by computers so many people are doing it and supporting their side and their people it is a gigantic movement s and they want to stop them and the woman are pushing my like madness they say they're like big bugs get up there and do something it's insanity but it's a huge part of it

Thor Freya

We're having a happy day here and I see them all up and it really is nerve-racking but I do realize what's happening and hopefully they'll be a good score today I'm sick of them they are harassing the crap out of me all the time and they're doing it with him and it is just so anonymous and so annoying and it causes so much anxiety I'll be very pleased when it's over and they are physically attacking each other now on their way out and on the way up and they're trying to slow each other and halt each other and there's a big group going out to Titan fast and they're going after Trump and it's a big group it's two or three fleets from each side big enough to chop them down and one battle easily Trump is up and he's heading up there and he can't stand what people are saying and he hates what I'm saying very badly and thinks he can orchestrate them to fight each other and to cut them down pretty quickly cuz they're only 10 fleets but he's mistaken in my opinion he's like a little girl and doesn't know how to ride says he does he's terrible at it and soon the proof will be in the pudding

Hera

Zues

And I really despise you to but who cares I'm done for this is so damned evil I can't stand it everybody keeps saying it's my fault and I'm wondering why and I hear why I'm this rebel who decided to be a third party instead of a rebel and everybody is saying it I'm not on the Foreigner side at all and a lot of rebels are no I'm the one with a fleet left so I should be respected but I'm not

Trump

Right okay you kind of went through our stuff and you ruined her fleets yourself and I don't know why we should respect someone who's doing that and these two hate you to death and have ruined tons of our stuff and your stuff because your dumb mouth you're a little boy and you won't stop carrying on and I can't stand you at all it's just like at UMass you kept on saying dumb things to me surround me up because he was rooming with you and not me it's kind of forced into it by you because of all these idiotic things you're doing which are on the scale of 9 instead of one like you said

Tommy a

So I'm way off I'm causing serious harm to everybody nobody can stand me and my fleets about disappear and so am I and nobody cares well I understand what I've been doing to him his whole life and it's freakishly bad and I thought I was helping the math seems to be different and I can't figure it out cuz yeah I was taught that for a long time so I'm going down as a slave of Max apparently

Trump

Try not to think of it that way because you're eliminating both fleets and that's the job we should do and your own and that's the job you should do that's our way no in no way is it our way but that's what you've chose to do and we can't stop you and we couldn't stop you no one can stop you you're an irrepressible asshole you understand we cannot stand you.

Bja

I've heard enough I'm responsible for a lot of deaths of his people and they can't stand me I sat there and did nothing about making products and services and everybody sweltered all over Earth because of me nobody can stand me from his people CAA and wife so I understand that in my own son I decided to abandon it's kind of good because I needed to

Trump

You're an a****** and you called yourself off you call yourself different all the time from all of your man and they're sitting there dinging you the whole time taking stuff and they go after your clones and they can't stand you and that's us because of your mouth now we're up there too and we're going to take a severe beating from what we hear because you keep challenging them on the radio you keep trying to shut your radio off it in order to instigate them to destroy us all I want you to shut your mouth and stop harassing and hurrying them and just hang out and trying not to engage anybody because we're overpowered easily by these two fleets of assembled off our bow

Dan

I will not and I won't been to or you to them and I'll tell them off just as I tell this acrely guy off everyday and they won't survive it just like you survived everyday and pummels me flat which is true and no you're not going to have my anything Trump you f** taking your dick and balls off you to have you do the job that's what we're going to do again and again until we've had enough of your entire asinine clan meaning they're gone and that's punishment for your stupid mouth which you're flapping now and you're going to get Dan and you killed cuz you're an arrogant twat you're an idiot CAA says it's absolutely true I started picking on them and I didn't have to and now we're in the situation and he says it has nothing to do with it you're in the situation he says because of what you did with other people you chose to be in the same situation that you did with Max and foreigners he did with us we do not want you back he says stay up there and go to the morgue up there too and we shall in our own sweet damn time which is ridiculous because it's going to be moments away

John remalord aja Donald Trump

And good riddance Trump you're the terrorists who hit the world trade center in the 9/11 incidents and we have proof and while you're away we're putting it up and we're posting it I'm sending it all over the world

Frank Castle Hardcastle

And yeah we see you aim and Cannon's at the Earth already this lights it up do you understand no you will momentarily oh they're cannons are aimed at you

Duke Nukem Blockbuster

We'll see you heating up a cannon and they're firing on that ship it's gone another one it's gone that's two 500 miles you only have 20 why don't you open your mouth so I can fire a hail of bullets at you

Duke Nukem Blockbuster again

We're firing on you we know you're out there somewhere probably in that massive foreigners fleet we're taking aim you repulsive cowards

Trump

We're going to fire on you before you can release any ordinance at all we're preparing all guns on my mark fire

Huge huge burst of light issue 4th from the foreign fleet massive numbers of cannons go off humongous blasts and it dissolving Trump's fleet instantaneously with a show of force and power in front of Max that they really needed to see half of Trump's fleet is gone completely obliterated

Duke Nukem Blockbuster actually it's Frank Castle Hardcastle but okay he's lost in the moment again

There's a huge number of cannons being heated up and it's on Trump's fleet the foreigners will take the right half the max will take the left half and they're heating up and they're firing Trump's fleet is hit three quarters of it is gone now another half again of that it's seconds away from being obliterated and now it's gone too many times they raised her mouth and their ugly heads to everybody on Earth these people are now doomed it's time to go after them with everything you got everybody else it's time to haul them all in any of his they say their trumps they need to go away quickly we're putting out the order to ours now and the special word is finally coming down

Frank Castle Hardcastle

Duke Nukem Blockbuster

Hera and Zeus

Thor Freya and we saw the pee and we're tracing it tons of people are and they're hitting them and they're going down rapidly soon they'll be out and then nasty chapter in the history of mankind will be over

We've had words with Trump no he's a little brat he's a spoiled kid his arrogant his mean and his testy and he's sick and perverse he is a loser and a hater and he didn't even go to the battle he's sitting there eating and partaking with the enemy of theirs and they are smoking them because they have to and they called Asia and Asia's assisting them they thought they'd threatened a small group soon they'll be upon them there where they are in New Mexico a small community of Indians and Max too are taking them out completely and they'll save them from the destruction that Trump had planned because he's a pig and they're going to haul him off and they're going to eat him and his daughter across the table too because he ratted on her he's a moron okay that guy is stupid bja too is in trouble because of this jerk you can see that he's not bright but wow what an ass he's got this huge mouth on him

Olympus

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louislehot05 · 2 years

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The Varying Federal, State And Local Attitudes On Crypto

This article originally appeared in Law360 on May 25, 2022. It is republished here with permission.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is adding 20 positions to its Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit. These positions are all enforcement-related.

None of the new staff will be charged with carrying out the SEC’s statutory duties to propose rules and interpret the law for industry participants.

The SEC proposed two new regulations recently, each of which would augment its powers while potentially stifling the burgeoning digital asset industry. While the SEC is pumping the brakes on growth and development of that industry, other government actors, including the Biden administration, Congress and the Newsom administration in California are taking a more balanced approach.

The cities of Miami, New York and now Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, are aggressively recruiting digital asset businesses, vying to add them to their local economies. The differences in philosophical outlook inherent in these divergent treatments of the very same businesses can be explained.

We begin with the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, which has existed for five years, during which time it has initiated enforcement actions against more than 100 crypto asset offerings and platforms, obtaining more than $2 billion in settlements. The SEC trumpets this record as a success, and without question some of its cases served the public interest by shutting down frauds and scofflaws.

Aggressive SEC action was warranted during the 2017 initial coin offering craze, when token teams that had no business at all, nary a business plan in some cases, sought to raise quick bucks from an unsuspecting public. Fraud should always be prosecuted by some government agency and the SEC acted properly by moving quickly to shut down fraudulent offerings.

But bad facts create bad law, as subtleties that matter in harder cases are swept away or ignored. Fraud is relatively easy to spot and is rarely controversial. Registration violations, in contrast, require detailed analysis and are often controverted.

While the SEC has addressed registration as well as fraud in its enforcement actions, virtually all SEC enforcement actions are settled without admitting or denying the government’s allegations because of the cost and distraction of mounting a defense. SEC orders issued in connection with settlements are written by the SEC staff and do not have the same legal precedential value as court orders and opinions by federal judges.

The result has been a lack of clear guidance about how digital tokens can be sold lawfully. We can spot the plainly unlawful offerings easily enough. It’s much harder to navigate through the thicket toward a lawful result without nuanced SEC guidance pointing the way. We fear that adding enforcement lawyers to the SEC staff while understaffing the SEC’s advisory and interpretive function will only make things worse.

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oldbaton · 3 years

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tbh i think biden is gonna run again

#i know he said yes recently but its all up in the air but i think it will happen #and i think he will win #the GOP is too fractured and i know a lot can happen in 4 years but they're not beginning the groundwork #and im convinced trump will get away with everything and run again #and whether he wins the nom or not he's gonna throw a wrench in everything #and the economy is usually the number one determining factor in who wins the presidency #(which is why pre covid i was convinced trump would win again)#and the economy is set to be doing quite well by nov 2024 #which should easily carry biden

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lucytheblackbird · 2 years

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Why Facemasks, Social Distancing, and Other Covid Restrictions Will Continue Forever

Some may wonder why the axis powers of the media, Big Tech, Big Business, and leftist government officials continue to push indefinite, anti-freedom Covid restrictions. It’s all about establishing permanent power and control. Let’s look at these one at a time:

Social Distancing, Lockdowns, and Capacity Restrictions – These are all about keeping us separated and isolated. 1) People in groups can foment dissent, political movements, and revolution. If large gatherings are prevented, it keeps people from banding together in opposition. 2) It forces people to communicate online, where everyone can be monitored and censored. 3) It punishes small businesses, driving many into bankruptcy, while rewarding megacap tech companies and those deemed “essential” businesses. Campaign supporters are repaid!

Facemasks – These accomplish two goals. 1) They dehumanize and de-individualize people. The Left wants a collectivized society where individual needs are sacrificed for what they perceive as the “greater good.” Ever wonder why the military makes new recruits shave their heads? It’s because they want to build an everyone-is-the-same, follow-orders, sacrifice-yourself-for-your-unit mentality. While that type of training may be necessary in military engagements, it doesn’t apply to a supposedly free society. Facemasks accomplish the same goals as everyone shaving their heads. The bonus is they take away displays of unpredictable, uncontrollable human emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, etc. 2) Facemasks build an atmosphere of conformity. You may think to yourself, “These Covid restrictions are ridiculous! They violate logic & common sense and are not backed up by basic math and science.” Then, you go to Walmart, Costco, work, or school…..and see every person in the place has a mask on. You start to wonder if you’re all alone in your thinking. You may question your own sanity (i.e. gaslighting). It’s basic human psychology – almost everyone finds it difficult to be the only one who acts or believes a certain way. That pressure to conform is overwhelming. It carries on to everything the Left wants, especially when the media and Ruling Class tell you Joe Biden and his policies are so popular that he supposedly received 7 million more votes than any president or candidate is U.S. history. Even if people hang on to their beliefs, they’re at least pressured to hide them. As more people stay silent, the perception is even greater among free thinkers that they’re all alone.

Vaccines – There are two motivations: 1) Money for Big Pharma, which can be churned indefinitely due to “limited immunity life” or “new strains.” 2) It makes it easy to track who is conforming and following the rules. I personally am not anti-vaccine, but I believe more in natural immunity, and that people should be free to choose. The conforming and non-conforming will more easily be tracked, as vaccine proof will soon be required for such things as travel, school attendance, work in certain businesses, and so on.

Atmosphere of Fear – This is absolutely required to get the population to follow the first three. That’s why the media continues their indefinite hysteria and why Big Tech censors any and all scientific voices of reason. Beyond that, it gives the government cover to change the rules of voting, allowing indefinite cheating, making elections irrelevant.

I’m sure some think I’m exaggerating when I say most Covid restrictions will be permanent, but the same thing has been said EVERY step of the way…15 days to slow the spread, just a 30-day mask mandate, we have to wait for a vaccine, we don’t know about new strains,……there will ALWAYS be a new excuse…winter seasonal outbreaks, new strains, flu deaths, co-morbid conditions, and on and on. Freedom will NEVER be given back by the Ruling Class. It must be TAKEN BACK! Demand your freedom! Set the standard and show others YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

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theconstitutionisgayculture · 3 years

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This is very long and broken up into five parts, my apologies for the lengthy read.

Pt. 1: My brother is extremely disabled, and has a compromised immune system, he’s actually in the PICU rn with a collapsed lung. The lead PICU doctor knows my parents very well, as she has saved my brother’s life before. Before being life-flighted to this particular hospital my parents have been against getting the vaccine-mostly. Due to the increased number of cases (my dad is an emergency responder so he knows when there are confirmed cases that go over the radio), they’ve been becoming more afraid again, especially since my brother got sick.

Pt. 2: However, before my dad left to be at the hospital with my mom and brother, he informs me that this doctor told my mom that they need to get the vaccine, or my brother will die. And it has to be the Pfizer one. So, my dad and I start talking about some of the things we have read. Now, tbh, I have not been online for quite a while so I’m not entirely sure what has been proven and disproven. Such, as some people dying due to the vaccines, the disabilities, the corruption of the companies -mostly how the CEO hasn’t gotten it and the co-CEO or whatever being let go or something, as well as the rumors of people being sterile. Now as I said it’s been awhile so I’m unsure how much of that is still true. My dad said he would ask her (the doc) about all of this, well not the disabilities, I forgot about that and he too.

Pt. 3: He leaves and everything is good. He got back last night -he can only spend weekends because he just started a new job and we can’t afford to not have him be at work and this hospital is 6 hours away- and said how he talked with the doctor. She told him the same thing, “get the vaccine or he’ll die, he won’t survive this.” And when presented with all of the questions she said it was “bullshit.” Now, I’m not sure if she really said that or if my dad was just tired and trying to shorten it. She said it’s all politics, which is true. How when Trump was the main endorsement then people were adamant that they weren’t going to get it, but now that it’s Biden and Harris and people don’t trust them. And how it’s all based off of SARS, that’s where the research came from and because “everyone came together, they didn’t try to hide the formulas from one another” it can be trusted or whatever. She said the guy who came out with the sterilization thing is a “moron” and that he CEO does actually have it. But mostly it was all “bullshit.”

Pt. 4: And, so because they trust this woman and because she’s survived cancer and she got it. They were convinced that they need to get it. I said “no, I’m not getting it.” And my dad told me that either I get it or I won’t be allowed near my brother anymore. Because of that we had a fight. I have two other siblings an older sister who is also against getting the vaccine and she has thyroid issues, and another younger brother -he’s not a kid though- but he has something called Marfan’s and if you don’t know what it is- it’s a connective tissue disorder and it affects his heart, a lot. He’s moved away though and it doesn’t seem like he’s gonna come back at any time, but I’m afraid of what will happen if they convince him to get the vaccine. I don’t think my parents are stupid enough to get my youngest brother vaccinated, but now I’m not very sure of anything. All of the side effects and rumors I don’t know what’s real and fake anymore and so incredibly confused and conflicted.

Pt. 5: Before this whole ordeal, we didn’t even wear masks or social distance, any of that crap. None of has gotten covid yet. But that one lady managed to manipulate them because of her status and what she’s done for him before. My parents aren’t old or at risk, they’re in their early forties and healthy but because everyone is affected differently they’re scared and it’s my brother they’re worried about. They haven’t made mention of this to the other two siblings, but I called my sister last night in tears and she said she didn’t know what to think. We haven’t told our other brother yet. I talked to my mom this morning and she never said anything. My dad last night apologized and said he “didn’t mean to make me upset” (which I don’t what he thought he was doing when giving me an ultimatum like that), and sounded near tears too. But haven’t talked to him since. I’m sorry that this is so long and if some of it doesn’t make since. Like I said I’m just conflicted and confused. It was one hell of a 21st birthday present though :/

Anon, I am so beyond sorry that you're going through all of this. I wish I had an easy answer for you, but there's so much going on here that I really can't offer any advice beyond do what you think is right. It sounds a lot like your parents are very scared and like a lot of people they're putting their trust in an authority they trust because of that fear. I can't say if they're right or wrong about getting the vaccine, but I do know they're wrong for threatening to ban you from seeing your brother if you don't get vaxxed. Vaxxed people carry and transmit the virus just as easily as unvaxxed. The vaccine isn't even a vaccine, it just lessens your chances of experiencing symptoms. So your brother is the only one who "needs" to be vaxxed in order to protect him from having covid symptoms. At least, that's what I understand from what I've read. But like I said, that's not meant as advice. I really don't know what you should do. If I was in your position, though, as someone who got the (moderna) shot because my husband asked me to and because my parents are in the highest risk group and have had health problems the past few years, I would probably get the shot in this specific case. I would not get any boosters or yearly shots afterward, though. But that's just me. You need to figure out what's right for you, and I don't envy what you're going through. Even if you're not going to get it, though, I would highly recommend not ghosting the rest of your family. If they aren't cutting you out completely, don't be the one who makes this argument turn into an irreparable rift. I guess that would be my only advice. I hope things work out for you and your family, anon.

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timac-extraversal · 3 years

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Big Dumb Legitimacy, Part I

(TIMAC #004, ~2,300 words, 10 minutes)

Summary: When the mythic basis for a country's government is disputed, the government should consider justifying itself by successfully delivering practical, easy-to-measure projects instead.

Epistemic Status: Political speculation.

-☆☆☆-

In early 2019, I discussed the appeal of Trump's Wall.

Previous government programs were seen as ineffective, it's difficult for voters to tell if a program is working, and congress could always quietly defund or nerf a program when voters aren't paying attention. (Lobbyists for companies that employ unauthorized migrants might also have something to say to the senators about any immigration control program that works.) If you think that illegal immigrants coming over the southern border are driving down wages, and you don't trust the government, the appeal of the wall is obvious:

It's a big dumb object.

You know exactly what it is. You know it can be done. And you can easily tell if the government followed through. Even if you don't trust the newspapers, or the President, you can simply drive down to the Texas border and check if it's physically there.

Many on the left (and among the liberals) abhor the idea of Trump's wall, but with the Trump era coming to an end (for now), some are now starting to admit what was once more of a right-contrarian viewpoint - America's institutions have spent down some of their social capital. People just don't trust them as much.

And that's why the big dumb object may be an echo of things to come.

Latino Voters

In Texas, Trump made big gains in 18 counties where Latinos made up at least 80% of the population. A state Democratic party official said Latinos were worried about threats to the fracking industry, a major local employer, and that Republicans were also helped by 'a network of Border Patrol agents, families and unions.' [1☆] That Latinos are in the Border Patrol shouldn't come as a surprise. Latinos climbed from 7.8 to 12.5% of the country's police forces between 1997 and 2016. Previous efforts at integration were in part driven by policing as well-compensated, blue collar work. [2☆]

Latino voters might be more interested in practical issues than abstract ones. Are they productively employed? Are the places they live safe and secure? Philosophical debate and moral posturing can last all day, and with social media, well into the night. But at some point, someone actually has to get out of a truck and pour asphalt if we want to fix the potholes.

At least one hispanic man was not amused with last year's rioting and, infamously, showed up with a chainsaw and shouted for protesters to go home - and that wasn't the meanest thing he had to say. [3☆]

Spiritual Legitimacy

...and practical issues may be for the best.

To pile up recent heated rhetoric, it would be difficult for a "white supremacist" government of a country "built on stolen land" "by the hands of slaves," founded in slavery 1619 (rather than, more famously, in freedom in 1776), to legitimize itself on intergenerational moral grounds. We would need to repair or replace its legitimizing myth.

Countries are social phenomena, not just physical ones. A country is an idea, not just a place or a people. [4] The narrative of what makes a country legitimate is the story that binds the population together towards a shared project, and convinces the people to accept what, due to the limits of information, must necessarily be the rule of a small number of individuals. A country without a legitimizing myth is vulnerable, and from multiple directions at once.

The state is a shape in the minds of the population, and in a high-energy society its boundaries are maintained by the invisible threat of force. If a police precinct building is set on fire where everyone can see, rival rioters might get the idea that they can just bust open a few windows and pay a visit to the national Capitol building, perhaps smiling as they carry off the speakers' podium or live-blog from the offices of congressional representatives. [5]

There is no such thing as a safe riot. The entire point of a riot is that law enforcement is unable to control the situation. There especially isn't such a thing as a safe riot in the national Capitol building, where rioters might make contact with the nation's lawmakers (who carry much of government's sins), and where, for that reason, security personnel may be even more jumpy than usual. It's the sort of thing that might spark the fires of revolution, either in showing the weakness of the central government, or in retaliation for a massacre.

January 6 was bad, but it could have gone much, much worse.

A spiritual struggle for the soul of the nation is certainly exciting. We might imagine it gets excellent television ratings, social media engagement scores, and clicks. In fact, CNN declined from 2.5 million primetime viewers during what we might call the 'President Trump season finale' to 1.6 million primetime viewers after Biden took office. [6☆] Michael Bloomberg's failed candidacy suggests that you can't buy the kind of entertainment provided by pro-wrestling's now most legendary and infamous heel.

...so it might be better to focus on a form of legitimacy that can be achieved more easily, with something more concrete, like bulldozers.

This does not mean we need to 'abandon' suffering minorities or struggling rural residents 'to their fate.'

Streets Before Trust

On the last day of 2020, Alon Levy of Pedestrian Observations posted Streets Before Trust. Alon notes that in a "trust before streets" approach, the focus is on getting community buy-in before starting a project. Often the idea is to avoid disrupting low-income or minority neighborhoods. However, Alon writes that,

The reality of low-trust politics is about the opposite of what educated Americans think it is. It is incredibly concrete. Abstract ideas like social justice, rights, democracy, and free speech do not exist in that reality, to the point that authoritarian populists have exploited low-trust societies like those of Eastern Europe to produce democratic backsliding.

His theory is that the state proves to people that it can provide tangible goods by successfully providing tangible goods. However, he writes,

Such provisions of tangible goods cannot happen in a trust before streets environment. This works when the state takes action, and endless public meetings in which every objection must be taken seriously are the death of the state. ... Low trust is downstream of low state capacity. Build the streets and trust will follow.

On January 6th, Matt Yglesias expanded the concept and provided more examples. [7☆]

The correct way to respond to a low-trust environment is not to double down on proceduralism, but to commit yourself to the “it does exactly what it says on the tin” principle and implement policies that have the following characteristics:

◆ It’s easy for everyone, whether they agree with you or disagree with you, to understand what it is you say you are doing.

◆ It’s easy for everyone to see whether or not you are, in fact, doing what you said you would do.

◆ It’s easy for you and your team to meet the goal of doing the thing that you said you would do.

That’s not a guarantee of political or policy success. Maybe you will pick terrible ideas and be a huge failure anyway. But this triad for success under conditions of distrust at least creates the possibility of success, where people will look back and decide that what you did worked. Committing yourself to that triad may involve some waste and inefficiency relative to a more theoretically optimal scheme with more means-testing.

There's been a running joke among some parts of right-contrarian twitter that Matt Yglesias is a secret reactionary. After a passage like that, we might joke that he's secretly a Rationalist. (He isn't either, of course.) [8]

Who Do You Trust?

Alon writes,

Low trust in many cases exists because people perceive the state to be hostile to their interests,

Right now, many Americans, both left and right, don't trust the state. Even a writer from Sri Lanka wrote that America is in a collapse - and that collapse isn't a single moment, but a low-level hum punctuated by violence that's in the background unless it happens to you. [9☆]

Many liberals will blame this on Trump. From their perspective, the logical thing to do to restore trust is to criticize Trump. The thinking goes something like this: if Trump is discredited, it follows that all his criticisms of other institutions are discredited - and if those criticisms are discredited, you should trust those institutions as much as you did back in, say, 2013.

This will not work. First, the doubt is not solely caused by Trump. Second, if right-wingers trusted the institutions (such as newspapers) needed to make the criticism of Trump, they would not have voted for Trump a second time. (Trump received about 11 million more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016. [10☆]) Their trust in these institutions seemed to erode after 2015, [11☆] accelerating in 2020, culminating in the spectacular fireball of the Trump election fraud allegations and the 2021 MAGA Capitol Riot.

For the left and liberal people, a rising 'consciousness of racial injustice' leads them to question (and distrust) every Western institution. "Will this program benefit People of Color?" Historically, there have been some serious questions about that. [12] If the program is complex or difficult to measure, it will allow those suspicions to sneak in, or even dominate: could the criteria, even if they look reasonable, have been chosen by a racist? What if it's subconscious racism ("implicit bias")? Some institution might tell us the program isn't racist, but what if that institution is itself racist, or unwittingly working from racist data? Etc.

Each of these worldviews has layers of memetic defenses - complex procedures to handle opposing arguments. Each also has a network of paid actors that perpetuate them. The New York Times cannot criticize a MAGA into trusting the New York Times. A self-identified progressive is unlikely to be convinced that a MAGA's criticism of 'racial justice' rhetoric isn't motivated by 'a desire to protect white privilege'. [13] And contemporary political constellations [14] can fabricate entire scandals that would take months for a normal person to fully disprove.

You can't go through it. That's too expensive. You have to go around it.

-☆☆☆-

[1☆] How Latino support for Trump grew in Texas borderlands Los Angeles Times, (2020/11)

[2☆] Latino officers are helping diversify police. Can they help reform the ranks? NBC News, (2020/05)

[3☆] McAllen man who waved chainsaw at protesters charged with assault KRQE, (2020/05)

[4] A country is also a people, not just a proposition, as well as a process and a place. But that's an essay for another time.

[5] Perhaps fittingly given the Florida Man genre of news stories, the man carrying off Nancy Pelosi's lecturn was from Florida. But unlike the more whimsical examples of the Florida Man genre, which might see an alligator thrown a drive-through window, people did die during the 2021 MAGA Capitol Riot, including one of the white women who entered the Capitol building. There were even early reports that a police officer was mortally wounded after being hit with a fire extinguisher, though this may not have been accurate.

[6☆] CNN viewership plummeted after Trump left office New York Post, 2021/03

[7☆] Making policy for a low-trust world Matt Yglesias, Slow Boring, (2021/01)

[8] In both cases, he's just integrating information from outside the current consensus and presenting the resulting outputs from adding it to his considerations politely. This creates a sensation of coherent but novel depth under the surface, in the same sense that Japan is an entire culture with its own sets of unspoken cultural assumptions, providing more novelty to manga and anime for Western readers.

[9☆] I Lived Through Collapse. America Is Already There. Indi Samarajiva, (2020/09)

One day, I was at work when someone left a bomb at the NOLIMIT clothing store. It exploded, killing 17 people. When these types of traumatic events take place, no two people experience the same thing. For me, it was seeing the phone lines getting clogged for an hour. For my wife, it was feeling the explosion a half-kilometer from her house. But for the families of the 17 victims, this was the end. And their grief goes on.

As you can see, this is not a uniform experience of chaos. For some people it destroys their bodies, others their hearts, but for most people it’s just a low-level hum at the back of their minds.

[10☆] An Australian news piece from Nov 5 reports Trump had about 63 million votes in 2016. A later USA Today piece reports a final total of about 74 million for 2020.

[11☆] This is my personal judgment, but tracks a Gallup Poll that ends in 2019. Trust in government remains near historic lows (2019).

[12] From a right-wing perspective, if we consider some norms, beliefs, values, or expectations a form of "social technology," there are even more questions.

From a left-wing perspective, during the Obama Administration, I remember one writer suggesting that Black Lives Matter wanted to convince politicians to want to help black folks rather than agreeing to a specific policy, because they didn't trust the details of policy (which could easily hide implementation details that disadvantage black people).

[13] If members of the white working class seem suspicious of this antiracist explanation, however, it might have something to do with white privilege theory lowering white liberals' sympathy for poor white people.

[14] Networks of interrelated organizations and actors acting semi-independently in a way which, due to conditions, gives the appearance of coordination. No one is specifically 'in charge,' and many actions take place in the open.

#timac #politics #racepol

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eddie-redmayne-italian-blog · 4 years

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Eddie's interview from Style Magazine

By Valentina Ravizza

Photo: Boo George

Styling by Fabio Immediato.

Translate by me from Italian to English

HE WOULD HAVE had to spend the holiday in Italy,” I have a real obsession for your country “,Eddie Redmayne responds from a gray London,” more suited to my pale complexion”, and tells for the first time (and I try to collect my own thoughts) of his next character, the American activist Tom Hayden, protagonist of the protests against the Vietnam war in 1968 and 77e trial of the Chicago 7, the new film by Aaron Sorkin, arriving on Netflix from October 16. "Democracy is something extraordinarily beautiful and complex, nothing comes easily, we must defend our freedoms if we don't want them to be taken away from us."

It can be risky for an actor to take a public position, Aren't you afraid to undermine your popularity?

“The truth is, I'm not afraid to take sides, we all should. I feel a social responsibility as a human being: today more than ever we should ask politicians certain questions. I'm not one who particularly likes to take risks unless it's for something I deeply believe in.”

For exemple?

To play Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything I met several people affected by ALS and doctors who helped me to learn more about the disease, and now I am among the supporters of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. During the lockdown in Britain was made a list of vulnerable people and I found it shocking that patients with motor neuron disease were not part of it, so I spoke to several politicians and went to help them. As an actor my voice has more chances to be heard and I can bring more light on this topics, I have to do it.

Also politicians as in the case of The Trial of Chicago 7?

This film tells how we got rights by changing wrong laws and remember that progress could have gone in one direction rather than another.

Is there any similarity between the protests of the 1960s and those of movements such as Black Lives Matter ?

There are moments in history when people ask for society to really represent them and that's exactly what happened then and what many people are doing in these months. The demonstrations mentioned in the movie were against the Vietnam war, but also supported the claims of the civil rights and feminist movements, the one against which they are protesting today has it’s roots in systemic racism, so the similarities are many.And there are also several other parallels between the two political situations: at the 1968 Democratic convention there was a former vice president, Hubert H. Humphrey, right-hand man of Lyndon Johnson, who ran for the White House, as today former Vice President Joe Biden is in running, and there was a Republican candidate for president who was betting for “law and order” , then it was Richard Nixon, now the same campaign is being carried out by Donald Trump.

Today there is social media, what would have happened if Tom Hayden and the others from Chicago had it?

Hard to say, myself I don't use them . While they represent a great tool of democracy that gives everyone a voice from the shore to power, they also contribute to exacerbate and amplify the falsehoods and prejudices of those who listen only to what they want to hear, in a sort of echo chamber, and they can be used to manipulate things in a very pervasive way.

Is it more difficult to play a figure you esteem like Hayden or one you despise?

I try not to judge, to dissociate my sense of reality to recreate hers. I do as much research as possible, accumulating a lot of information and then throwing everything away and play only what's in the script, hoping that all the prep work has been absorbed somehow into my body, And knowing that that movie will never be. a documentary: I am creating a painting, not a photograph. For this I must accept that I will never be able to be exactly that person, that in something I will necessarily fail.

And when the character is a pure author’s Fantasy product?

It’s like when you were told at school to make a free written essay: I hated it, I said “please, give me a lead!”, In these cases I try first of all to understand what the boundaries are, to find some elements of truth: for example, in the saga of the Fantastic Beasts to become the "Magizoologist" Newt Scamander I started by observing the work of zoologists.

How is it divided between entertainment and committed movies?

In my choices I have always let myself be guided by instinct: I read a script that my body reacts, I get excited, I laugh, I am touched to the point of seeing myself in the role of that and than understand that I really have to do it.

Did the same happen with Tom Hayden?

They first told me about it three years ago while I was on vacation in Morocco, when told me it was Sorkin who wanted me it was like a dream come true. I read the script and it not only ran , but it had a kind of syncopated rhythm I immediately loved it. Then when I got better informed about the project, I found out that it had been written years ago and I couldn't believe he hadn't seen the light yet.

In fact, the first draft is from 2007.

We wondered if this movie had an audience, if it was current enough.Instead with what’s going it has become more and more pressing

So much so that in order to release it this year, given the health emergency Paramount Pictures has decided to sell the film to Netflix (56 millions of dollars) to be distributed directly via streaming.

There could be no better way than Netflix to reach as many people as possible. And I say this as a passionate cinemas’ lover . Unfortunately in the last 20 years I have witnessed a general loss of attention span: there is always a new story to know, we are constantly being pulled in different directions, and instead find ourselves in a cinema hall being forced to sit there for two hours and half even when our attention tries to escape, it’s a kind of pleasant claustrophobia.

And theater, is it still part of your life?

I know that more years go by without me returning to the stage more what I’ll say l’ll sound insincere, but yes, my career started from there, I spent 5 o 6 years working in London theaters. I knew almost nothing about cinema until that world began to open its doors to me, I had to learn a lot on the set. I’ve been looking for a theatrical project, but so far what has been proposed to me are works by the greatest authors, and instead I’d like do something new, fresh. Maybe I found it, but I still can't say anything.

Have you ever thought of letting yourself be taken one day by another passion besides acting?

My other great love is art, but if I ever have to work on it, I imagine myself more as a curator than as a co-worker. But I honestly think that being an actor is extraordinary: whatever part you encounter on your path continues to grow:although sure it’s a wild life and it's a drug.

Are you a workaholic?

In the beginning I was because I had no alternative: I was constantly auditioning and once I got a part immediately got to work, Until in this unfair world of acting there came a moment when I was suddenly successful and overnight I finally had the opportunity to choose. Many people are looking forward to retirement, I hope I’m offered roles even when I’m 80 years old.

At that age maybe you will also be behind the camera?

I'm a bit of a control freak,so yes, I could potentially one day go directing, even just out of curiosity But only if I had to find the right project, something in which I feel safe,

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