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Yep, companies give "unlimited PTO" because it's a way to actually reduce the amount of PTO employees take.
Give them 20 days PTO/year? They'll take around 20 a year.
Give them unlimited PTO? They need to justify every bit of PTO, so probably only get to take 4 or 5 for important days.
In France 5 weeks PTO is the minimum. But depending on where you and with who you work, taking a leave can be seen very differently.
You can also have more than 5 weeks but it hides overtime work behind that needs to be accounted else the company can be sued for it. So they sell you a nice job with lots of PTO but in fact they don’t appreciate that you may enjoy what they owe you.
Aight gimme 2 hours, then im on the train, with my laptop. Imma make it then. Gonna set a reminder too
Don't forget that your employer doesn't give you your legally mandated annual leave, it's one of your basic rights, like sick pay (applies to the UK, and hopefully a lot of other places).
❤
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My boss summons me for a one-on-one if it's getting late in the year and I haven't taken all my PTO yet.
If I collect too much of it, or too much overtime, without using it, I can get written up.
Sometimes it's not easy either, with 42 days of PTO a year (plus unlimited sick days).
Which means the bosses get in trouble.
I just posted this in a different thread but I had a similar problem, except that my company doesn’t give a shit. Use it or lose it, I don’t get paid for it.
Anyway, had too much so I started taking every Wednesday off. No long time off means I don’t feel like my work stacks up while I’m out, and I get a ton of shit done during the week when everyone else is at work.
What the hell I need to learn to shoot for?
F that! I'm following my dreams
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I probably wouldn't classify it that way. It's a cesspool but not really what I'd consider "far right" like say Stormfront.
You'll find people openly arguing with Nazis so it's not really fair to say it's a far right forum as much as it is just a complete cesspool where the worst side of people comes out.
FWIW I wouldn't really consider Telegram a far right forum either even though they're definitely there and highly visible.
As one Australian war criminal once said
"Shoot straight you bastards! Don't make a mess of yourselves!"
Venezuela: What Room for Maneuver Does María Corina Machado Have? (Resumen)
María Corina Machado has not made any public appearances for almost 40 days. After ambivalent statements about her “clandestinity,” she has been accused of preparing to . She insists she is in Venezuela but has not given any proof of this. She affirms, as did Edmundo González when he was applying for asylum in Spain, that she will not leave the country.
Isolation and loss of traction\
Her appearances have been telematic from closed places. Occasionally, she is seen distraught, despite her efforts to show confidence and forcefulness in arguments.
Their last “national mobilization,” scheduled for September 28, dispensed with the plan of mass gatherings and opted for the tactical resource of the “swarm.” The result was an atomized activity without assistance or relevance. In other words, the organization of opposition mobilization collapsed and demonstrated its weakness.
On social media, where the “queen bee” has ruled by riding on the favors of algorithms, she is increasingly criticized for a promise of “cashing out” (cobrar) that has translated into nothing.
The core of Machado’s political destiny lies precisely in that premise of “cashing out” or making an effective regime change, as she has incessantly promised. The mood changed drastically after Edmundo González fled to Spain through the asylum he requested and communicated to Machado just one day before boarding a plane bound for Madrid.
There has been no institutional breakdown within Venezuela. After various calls from both politicians [Machado and González], no military or police authority has taken up arms, and no preponderant element within the security sphere has mobilized in support of their agenda.
The big private economic actors organized in the main business associations have not actively participated in the postelectoral diatribe. They have made a few statements calling for “peace, stability, and work.” They do not participate in the diatribe and, therefore, have not played an open role in Machado’s insurrectional project.
Recently, the government set up a new space for dialogue with Venezuelan opposition parties. The notable absence was that of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) that supported Edmundo González. González, Machado, and the PUD had published a statement in which they indicated that a real dialogue would only be possible if they participated so that Maduro would give up power and begin a “transition.”
The clearly defiant message demands that Chavismo hand over power. Yet, that message resonates differently with the other opposition parties. Machado and González will once again repeat the strategy of abstentionism. They will pressure the parties not to work towards the next elections. They will call them “scorpions” and will try to contain, by force of pressure, further ruptures in the already fragile image of the anti-Chavismo consensus.
Obstacles and opposing forces\
What are Machado’s real capabilities to materialize a regime change? With what force is Machado capable of demanding that Maduro begin an imaginary transition?
The leader lacks the basic features that could lead to a coup. If we look at the internal picture, there is no high-impact street mobilization, no support from economic actors, and no institutional breakdown in the military. She also does not have the support of all the opposition, and the “leader” is “in hiding.” That is, internally, there is no possibility of “cashing out” in sight.
The only real options for Venezuela’s extremist opposition are in the hands of factors outside the country.
Outside Venezuela, the US mercenary Erik Prince, together with former Venezuelan military deserters, has raised funds to finance a new private coup. This would not be a novelty given the failed “Operation Gideon” of 2020 by Jordan Goudreau’s contractor, Silvercorp, with support from the DEA.
Now, various leaders of the “Ya Casi Venezuela” platform are accusing each other of fraud and individual profiteering from the funds raised. So far, the funds raised seem to be insufficient for a mercenary mission on a significant scale in a place like Venezuela, which, according to its demographic proportion, is the most militarily equipped country in the region.
It is very difficult to know the actual dimension of the organization belonging to Prince and his associates because the flow of information—false or real—is part of the game in the shadows of intelligence and counterintelligence.
Meanwhile, the governments of the so-called “international community,” or rather, the United States and its allied countries, have taken a position not to recognize the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro. Yet so far, they remain reluctant to accept Edmundo González as “president-elect” in self-exile.
Machado, along with her allies and media operators, have launched a campaign to renew “maximum pressure” on Venezuela’s oil activities.
Venezuela has risen to third place among crude oil exporters to the United States. Meanwhile, military and geopolitical tensions in West Asia create a major obstacle for Washington, limiting its ability to apply more illegal sanctions or revoke OFAC licenses.
License 41-A was automatically extended for another six months without any statements from the US government on the matter.
Clearly, any possibility of calculation to effect a regime change, coup, or assassination in Venezuela lies in the designs and actors of the external front, meaning that these options are not in Machado’s hands.
The leader has probably exhausted all her resources and possibilities internally. Time and all elements of real power are against her.
Venezuela: What Room for Maneuver Does María Corina Machado Have?
October 5, 2024 María Corina Machado has not made any public appearances for almost 40 days. After ambivalent statements about her “clandestinity,” she has been accused of preparing to leave the co…Resumen LatinoAmericano English
An Open Source Mirrorless Camera You’d Want To Use
An Open Source Mirrorless Camera You’d Want To Use
Making a digital camera is a project that appears easy enough, but it’s one whose complexity increases depending on the level to which a designer is prepared to go. At the simplest a Raspberr…Hackaday
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1. Wait until it becomes available.
2. Get my Zenit Helios lens cleaned in the inside and reassembly it correectly from my attempt at trying to get into it to clean it myself.
You will not be able to destroy the resistance, and you will not escape accountability for your crimes! Hassan Nasrallah’s memory will live on in the struggle for a free and united Middle East of the peoples!
The racist colonialist state of Israel has doubled down its terror after the 8-hour speech of Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who has been preventing the continuation of genocide in Palestine, as well as some Hezbollah cadres whose names have not been disclosed. The USA, the bloody enemy of the peoples of the world, has declared its joy over the massacre and announced its complicity in crime. The EU states, which fill their days with demagogery against violence and civilian deaths, are filling the banks with their shameless support for Israel’s genocide in Palestine and its massacres in Lebanon through NATO.
The Arab rulers, who are aparatus of fascism and liberalism from imperialist oppression, have been quick to try to issue a statement saying that those who challenge Israel and the USA will end up like this, instead of standing with the. These attacks on Lebanon, a reflection of no way to cope with crisis, genocidal functions, particularly in terms of commercial relations. Therefore, its words are not for deception bold to matters what than the flower of a single resistance. Together, Israel, the USA, and the NATO-affiliated EU states are laying the groundwork for a regional reactionary (imperialist and genocidal) war.
The massacres, which go along with the united resistance of the peoples of the Middle East! To this end, it has become an urgent task to establish a united front of all revolutionary, anti-colonial, anti- fascist, anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist, anti-and U.S political parties and organizations all over the world! The brutal colonial war and massacres that Israel continues with the support and protection of the USA and NATO will unite, more than working class, peoples and workers to raise the banner of honor and freedom, particularly in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia. We call on the peoples of Kurdistan and Turkey to take on the streets, side by side with the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon, against genocidal colonialism! Resistance increases against the genocide! We urge the peoples of Iraq, Rojhelat and Balochistan to protest against the Israeli genocide and assassination politics, without bowing to the prohibition of the Iranian state, which shows only cowardice.
We call on the peoples of Europe not to become accomplices in these inhuman, racist, fascist, and genocidal crimes; to enhance the best traditions created by the courageous youth, women, workers, intellectuals, and artists of Europe in their struggle against Hitler fascism, mobilizing millions to occupy the squares.
Let us not forget that today, the USA and the NATO member states of the EU, which support Israel and defend Palestine and Lebanon in blood, are also preparing to provide the same support to the fascist genocidal Turkish state to destroy guerrilla resistance! The same states are also preparing a large-scale genocidal colonial war against the Kurdish people, the Rojava revolution, and the PKK. Let us not forget that without being satisfied against the genocide and massacres of the racist colonialist Israeli Zionism in Palestine and Lebanon, the massacre and genocide plans against Kurdistan cannot be left in cowardice, and the complicity of the US and NATO with the colonialist Turkish state cannot be forgotten!
Hassan Nasrallah and the martyrs of the Lebanese resistance will not be forgotten, their
memory will live on in the fight for freedom!
Racist colonialist Zionism will be defeated, the peoples of the region will win!
September 28, 2024
MLKP
Central Committee
abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/pos…
#kurdistan #lebanon #mlkp #palestine #rojava #Solidarity #turkey #westAsia
At the funeral tent for the martyrdom of Nasrallah:
Fahd Suleiman: Through resistance and unity, we confront the American-“israeli” project of barbarism in the region
Fahd Suleiman, the Secretary-General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, stated: “With resistance and unity, we thwart the American-“israeli” barbaric project aimed at tightening control over the region, isolating it, and reshaping its regional equations with international repercussions.”
The Secretary-General of the DFLP was speaking in front of mourners who gathered at the entrance to the Yarmouk camp to bid farewell to His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, who was martyred in an “israeli” airstrike targeting a civilian neighborhood in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Fahd Suleiman said: “We bid farewell to His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a distinguished leader who held a prominent place in Lebanon, Palestine, and across our Arab Levant, and even internationally. He was a solid and strong opponent of the zionist project and the United States, and their hegemonic projects in the region. He was deeply humble, steadfast, and deeply committed to his national mission. He never wavered or compromised, remaining clear in his conduct, political discourse, and leadership role.”
The Secretary-General of the DFLP emphasized that the departure of the great martyr, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has left a political void, but he expressed confidence that his comrades and colleagues in Hezbollah’s leadership would fill this gap. “We are in the presence of a party that relies on a broad popular base that believes in its party, has stood by it, and merged with it in all its battles.”
Fahd Suleiman further stated that the martyrdom of the great leader, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, presents us with a clear vision of the situation in the region, summarized as follows:
1. We are now facing a barbaric American-“israeli” project that seeks to achieve its goals through force, operating on the principle that “what cannot be resolved by force, is resolved by more force.” The United States and “israel,” with all the military power at their disposal, are waging wars in the region aimed at eradicating all forms of resistance—militarily, politically, culturally, and beyond. They have mobilized their air and naval fleets, targeting leaders as well as the societal fabric, aiming to strip the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine of its popular support base, in a strategy that seeks to complete Trump’s project of normalizing Arab-“israeli” relations, but in a more radical and accelerated manner, with the goal of spreading normalization and integrating “israel” into the region, tightening their grip, limiting the influence of China and Russia, and isolating the Islamic Republic of Iran.
2. The way to confront this brutal and bloody onslaught by the American-“israeli” alliance is through comprehensive resistance in all its forms. What we are witnessing now in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria confirms that we are on the right path.
3. As for the Palestinian front, our cause has become a central axis of the struggle in the region, and indeed the primary axis. This requires us to rise to the challenge, which necessitates strengthening the field unity of the resistance and our people at home and in the diaspora. We must abandon the failed reliance on illusory American projects and work to implement the outcomes of the Beijing talks through its three steps: the immediate convening of the unified and provisional leadership framework, the formation of a national unity government to take responsibility for managing public affairs in Gaza as well as the West Bank, and the adoption of a national strategy that reflects a comprehensive Palestinian vision to confront the challenges of this phase, which poses significant risks to the interests, cause, and national rights of our people.
Central Media
05/10/2024
abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/pos…
#alAqsaFlood #dflp #gaza #lebanon #nasrallah #palestine #resistance #westAsia
Your phones and computers rely on this remote mine in North Carolina. Helene just drowned it.
Your phones and computers rely on this remote mine in North Carolina. Helene just drowned it.
Quartz mines in Spruce Pine, essential to the global chip supply chain, are closed indefinitely.Adam Clark Estes (Vox)
Investment towards China's strategic emerging industries by centrally-administered SOEs has surpassed 1 trillion Yuan (about 140.87 billion USD) in the first seven months of the year.
China's central SOEs' investment in strategic emerging industries tops 1 trln yuan in first 7 months
China's central SOEs' investment in strategic emerging industries tops 1 trln yuan in first 7 months-english.news.cn
A bright comet will be visible in northern skies soon. How to see it.
Where to look for C/2023 A3 in the night sky
For observers in the Northern Hemisphere, comet C/2023 A3 can be found in the constellation Sextans and will rise one hour before the sun, according to Astronomy.com.
The comet will be best viewed in mid-October, rising up from the western horizon and be visible in the southwestern sky at nightfall, weather permitting. That will likely be its best and brightest appearance until it starts to fade from view by Nov. 7, according to SkyandTelescope.com.
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Comet C/2023 A3's coma is about 2.8 feet in diameter and the tail measures about 16.9 feet in length.Its closest approach to Earth will be on Oct. 11 or 12, according to BBC Sky at Night. It will still be about 44 million miles away.
It's so tiny! I'm surprised we can see something that small from such a far distance.
For observers in the Northern Hemisphere, comet C/2023 A3 can be found in the constellation Sextans and will rise one hour before the sun, according to Astronomy.com.The comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the evening, just after sunset, when it is low in the southwestern sky.
I'm confused. Is the best time to see it just before sunrise or just after sunset??
NEW BLOG POST:
Blabbing.
Read it on my website (recommended):
Or read it here:
I will probably close the gofundme campaign for TROMhome soon. It was likely not a good idea and we are getting no support anyway. We are going to buy the motorhome ourselves and manage the money situation somehow. Problem is after we buy it we will have around 900 Euros all of our money and at best 400 Euros a month from then on. It is a mystery how we will move forward with that, but we’ve been in a lot of financial shit over the years so we will find a way. I hope.
The best support is the 200 for TROM tromsite.com/donate/ – just 5 Euros a month max per person, to distribute the financial pressure on people and make this sustainable. It is damn hard to reach any of these goals that are stretched at the extreme low end of the needed support, but at this point I am tired of it all, so I accept whatever it is. If we cannot support ourselves financially I may shut down some of the TROM.tf services and move the project to a cheaper server. Will see…
So I am bouncing around in my head these days between extreme excitement about the motorhome, and terrible concern about what we do after we buy it.
I am also very eager to create more stuff for TROM, content wise, but well these next months I will be busy with the motorhome life.
I am trying to not let these failures with the gofundme campaign or 200 for TROM destroy my thin layer of motivation that has been getting thinner and thinner over the years. In a way I feel like an old man retiring after many years of work. In the sense that TROM had a lot of traction in the beginning, then I pushed a lot with TVP, I made books, articles, videos, managed many “social” networks, whatever, and now for the past few years I got tired of being fucked by these “social” networks who won’t even show your posts to your followers, so I retreated myself into the fediverse. Friendica, Peertube, and the like. Losing even further the little reach we had. But I love these places, they are cozy and sane.
However I have no clue if anyone is still interested in TROM or these sort of projects. Even the few people who got to be active and involved and we became good friends because of TROM, got sucked into the system.
I have great friends now, super exciting plans with the motorhome, but I don’t have TROM that much. TROM is a side dish, after it was the main meal for many years between me and the people I got to know online.
As you can see, the “old man retiring” blabbing about the past. But in the thing is that TROM is as relevant as it was 10 years ago. The “trade as the origin of most problems” I think is one of the most important ideas out there. The content that we’ve made, the projects that are still alive, are all very relevant. It’s just that this society sucks everyone in. Jobs, netflix, wars, elections, money, stress, day to day bullshit, consume, ads….hard to focus on TROM-like things.
But anyway, I will let the TROMhome project become part of my life, or vice-versa, and I am not giving up on TROM anytime soon. I have a lot more to do, but at times it helps me vent, so I let my brain share bits of my frustration into the interweb, almost like a modern prayer 😀 – maybe someone is listening, or cares, or doesn’t. I certainly don’t care, it simply helps me to write :D. I used to keep an offline journal years ago for such reasons, and this is similar, but well….public since it has a lot to do with the many public projects I am doing.
Ok.
Sophisticated AI models are more likely to lie
The more sophisticated AI models get, the more likely they are to lie
Human feedback to AIs makes them favor providing an answer, even a wrong one, while making the answer more convincing.Jacek Krywko (Ars Technica)
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Inside Western media’s reporting on Gaza
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.www.youtube.com
Devs gaining little (if anything) from AI coding assistants
Devs gaining little (if anything) from AI coding assistants
Code analysis firm sees no major benefits from AI dev tool when measuring key programming metrics, though others report incremental gains from coding copilots with emphasis on code review.Grant Gross (CIO)
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Pyright for Python is fantastic and in many ways surpasses the type systems of classic typed languages
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For devops, it's amazing. We use many tools that we are not experts in, and it's incredible to get ready to use code examples how to configure them for various scenarios.
I save many hours every week using open Ai latest models.
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Zionist Think Tank Publishes Blueprint for Resistance Victory (Al Mayadeen -- @kitklarenberg on Twitter)
By Kit Klarenberg – Oct 3, 2024
A little-noticed report published September 19th by JINSA laid out how the Empire will be on the defence, and at grave disadvantage, in all-out hot war with Iran.
On October 1st, Iran launched scores of missiles at the Zionist entity, in response to the murder of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, among many brazen provocations and escalations targeting the Resistance in recent months. Voluminous footage of key Israeli infrastructure, including military and intelligence sites, being comprehensively flattened by the Islamic Republic’s inexorable onslaught has circulated widely, amply contradicting predictable claims emanating from Tel Aviv and Washington that the blitzkrieg was successfully repelled by Western air defence systems.
It is the largest, most devastating attack on the Zionist entity in its 76-year history. The full impact is not yet apparent. While US officials worriedly warned hours in advance they possessed “indications” Iran was preparing to attack “Israel”, the incursion’s timing, scale, and severity caught all concerned by surprise. Washington dispatching thousands more troops across West Asia in the days prior, explicitly in “Israel’s” defence, was evidently no deterrent to Tehran.
That deployment came replete with a supposedly rock-solid Pentagon pledge to come to the rescue should the Islamic Republic seek to repeat the historic, wide-ranging drone and rocket barrage to which it subjected the Zionist entity in April. Department of Defense apparatchiks boldly declared they and Tel Aviv alike were “even better prepared for a new Iranian attack” than last time round. The ease with which “Israel’s” purportedly impregnable Iron Dome was bested exposes this braggadocio as hopeless hubris at best, dangerous delusion at worst.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is ever-cautious, and has acted with extraordinary restraint since the 21st century Holocaust erupted in Gaza. Some analysts have interpreted this implacable self-control, and Tehran’s lack of immediate backlash against acts such as the audacious assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil, as not merely rigid reluctance to escalate into all-out war with “Israel” and its Western backers, but an inability to respond at all. Tel Aviv’s unprecedented October 1st battering should dispel any such inference.
Senior Israeli politician Yaiv Golan, who returned to Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) service following October 7th, has branded Iran’s latest assault a “declaration of war” against the Zionist entity. Notorious Benny Gantz boasts Tel Aviv “has capabilities that were developed for years to strike Iran, and the government has [our] full backing to act with force and determination.” Meanwhile, IOF spokesperson Daniel Hagari declares, “There was a serious attack on us and there will be serious consequences.”
The IRGC appears to have calculated such threats and pronouncements are as empty and meaningless as the Pentagon’s pledge to be “better prepared” for a future Iranian strike. At the very least, the Islamic Republic fears no Anglo-Israeli retaliation to its latest broadside. That may mean Tehran has grounds to believe the balance of power in the region, and in any future large-scale conflict with the Zionist entity and West, has irrevocably tipped in favour of the Resistance.
Eerily, a little-noticed report published September 19th by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), a powerful and shadowy Zionist lobby organisation, inadvertently reached this same conclusion. It laid out in forensic detail how the Empire will be on the defence, and at grave disadvantage, in all-out hot war with Iran. Along the way, a blueprint for Resistance victory was plainly sketched. With Tehran having thrown down a gauntlet on October 1st, we could now be seeing that plan being put into action.
‘Gaining Overmatch’
Titled U.S. Bases in the Middle East: Overcoming the Tyranny of Geography, JINSA’s report was authored by former CENTCOM commander Frank McKenzie, who oversaw the Empire’s disastrous retreat from Afghanistan. It appraises the viability, value, and force projection capabilities of current US military installations throughout West Asia, focusing on Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. The findings are stark, calling for an immediate overhaul of American basing across the region:
“Our current basing structure, inherited from years of haphazard decision-making, and driven by divergent operational and political principles, has yielded installations that are not optimally situated for the most likely threats of today and the future in the region.”
Despite mentioning “threats” in plural, JINSA’s sole focus is the Islamic Republic. While a myriad of issues with the Empire’s modern day positioning throughout West Asia are identified, the “most important” conclusion drawn is that Washington’s “current basing array detracts from our ability to deter Iran and fight them effectively in a high-intensity scenario.” McKenzie is nonetheless at pains to portray Tehran as somewhat feeble and vulnerable:
“The Iranians have no army that can be deployed as an invading force. They have a small and ineffective navy, and in practical terms, no air force. Their missile and drone force, though, is capable of gaining overmatch against many of its neighbors…they can deploy more attacking missiles and drones than can be defended against.”
Handing out Sweets: How British Propaganda Steers Events in West AsiaAs such, JINSA notes, “a theater-level war with Iran would be a war of missiles and drones,” and Tehran’s April 13th attack on “Israel” was a “comprehensive demonstration of Iranian operational design.” The IRGC sought to overwhelm the Zionist entity’s air defences and radar systems with waves of low-cost drones and cruise missiles, to “make it difficult for Iron Dome or Patriot to engage the ballistic missiles that followed.”
Given what went down on October 1st, McKenzie correctly forecast that the April strike would “probably remain the basic template for large-scale Iranian attacks.” He appraised the effort – “at least conceptually” – as “a sound one,” from which “there are lessons for all to learn.” The most pressing and “obvious” takeout for JINSA was that, “for the defenders of the Gulf, it will be a war of strike aircraft, tankers, and air and missile defense…and here is the problem”:
“These aircraft are largely based at locations along the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf…an artifact of planning against Russian incursions in the 1970s, and the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns of the early decades of this century. They are close to Iran, which means they have a short trip to the fight…but that is also their great vulnerability. They are so close to Iran that it takes but five minutes or less for missiles launched from Iran to reach their bases.”
The “thousands of short-range missiles” Iran possesses are also a key negative “factor”, offering “no strategic depth.” While an F-35 fighter jet “is very hard to hit in the air…on the ground it is nothing more than a very expensive and vulnerable chunk of metal sitting in the sun.” Refuelling and rearming facilities on US bases in West Asia “are also vulnerable, and they cannot be moved.” Most damagingly of all:
“These bases are all defended by Patriot and other defensive systems. Unfortunately, at such close range to Iran, the ability of the attacker to mass fires and overwhelm the defense is very real.”
In closing his roadmap to Tehran’s victory, McKenzie bitterly laments, “It is hard to escape the conclusion that our current basing structure is poorly postured for the most likely fight that will emerge.” The Empire “will not be able to maintain these bases in a full-throated conflict, because they will be rendered unusable by sustained Iranian attack.” Imperial overreach in West Asia has now fallen victim to “the simple tyranny of geography.” And all along, the Islamic Republic has been taking rigorous notes:
“The Iranians can see this problem just as clearly as we do, and that is one of the reasons why they have created their large and highly capable missile and drone force.”
‘Nothing but force’
For all the JINSA report’s doom and gloom, McKenzie does express some optimism – of the most fantastical, self-deceived kind. For one, he suggests Iran cannot threaten the Empire’s “carrier-based aviation” capabilities. Still, he concedes “there aren’t enough carriers, and therefore naval aviation will probably not be the central weapon in a fires war with Iran.” The former CENTCOM chief also conveniently overlooks AnsarAllah’s recent crushing defeat of the US Navy during Operation Prosperity Guardian, which unambiguously exposed the redundancy of US aircraft carriers altogether.
Elsewhere, McKenzie declares that the Empire “needs to move aggressively to develop basing alternatives that demonstrate that it is prepared to fight and prevail in a sustained high-intensity war” with Tehran, and therefore “overcome unfavorable basing geography.” One radical solution proposed by the JINSA report is to “consider basing in Israel”. US military presence in Tel Aviv has already been slowly growing over recent years. While largely unacknowledged and downplayed, it has proven incredibly controversial every step of the way.
In September 2017, the IOF announced the arrival of America’s first permanent military installation in the Zionist entity. Such was the backlash domestically and regionally, that officials in Washington raced to deny this was the case, prompting a major cleanup of IOF websites referencing the site. Any move to create a fully-fledged US base in “Israel”, explicitly for war-fighting purposes, would inevitably spark even greater outcry, and be seen as a major escalation by the Resistance, demanding a drastic response.
Such an eventuality undoubtedly didn’t occur to the former CENTCOM chief. His analysis is hazardously unsound and fallacious in other areas too. On top of “Israel’s” “geographic advantages”, he praises Tel Aviv’s “powerful, proven air and missile defense capability.” It was this “competence”, combined with “US and allied assistance, and the cooperation and assistance of Arab neighbors”, that ensured Iran’s April strike on the Zionist entity was a “failure”, McKenzie muses.
He appraises this group effort, which supposedly prevented Iran from delivering decapitation strikes against the Zionist entity’s military and intelligence structure, as “in every measurable way…a remarkable success story.” If McKenzie’s view was shared by the Pentagon, this may explain why the US was so caught off guard by, and ill-prepared for, Tehran’s recent bludgeoning of “Israel”. Far from an embarrassing cataclysm, the April effort was a spectacular success, which exposed “Israel’s” fatal weaknesses, and reshaped West Asia forever.
Far from wanting too deliver a death blow, the Islamic Republic sought to deescalate via a measured, well-advertised show of strength, while avoiding a wider response. In the process, the IRGC demonstrated that if it wished, in future it could successfully bypass the Iron Dome, and would wreak immense destruction. Then, a “new equation” was spelled out by a Corps Commander:
“If from now on the Zionist regime attacks our interests, assets, personalities, and citizens, at any point we will attack against them.”
This message was evidently not received in corridors of power in Brussels, London, Tel Aviv, and Washington. Whether it will finally be comprehended now that Tehran has struck once again deep into the Zionist entity’s putrid heart remains to be seen. As Russian military strategist Igor Korotchenko once observed, “this Anglo-Saxon breed understands nothing but force.”
(Al Mayadeen – English)
Zionist Think Tank Publishes Blueprint for Resistance Victory
By Kit Klarenberg - Oct 3, 2024 A little-noticed report published September 19th by JINSA laid out how the Empire will be on the defence, and at grave disadvantage, in all-out hot war with Iran.Orinoco Tribune - News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond
The Washington Post’s witch hunt on Chinese Americans
The Washington Post’s witch hunt on Chinese Americans
A recent Washington Post article ran under the headline “How China extended its repression into an American city.” In the September 6, 2024Michael Wong (Asia Times)
The problem is systemic: understanding the #OccupyParliament movement in Kenya (Review of African Politcal Economy)
Reflecting on the mass protests that recently shook Kenyan society from top to bottom, Joel Mukisa argues that we must go much further than a choiceless democracy to find answers. A systematic questioning of the underlining political and economic structures underpinning the choices on offer must be undertaken.
By Joel Mukisa
If you asked a think-tank team leader, a social sciences Professor at Nairobi University if they anticipated the scale and popularity of the protests that rocked East Africa’s economic powerhouse Kenya, only a few months ago many honest people would simply retort, NO!
The protests that rather appeared spontaneous characterized mainly by a young generation of Kenyans known as Gen Z protesting the Finance Bill (an annually produced document that lays out the government’s fiscal strategy) that would introduce a cocktail of new taxes on essential and basic commodities. This comes on the heels of an economy recuperating from the COVID-19, Ukraine War, the decpreciation of the Kenyan shilling, massive unemployement, massive debt and a divisive election.
The protests were characterized by incidents of violence among the deaths, shootings by Kenya’s Police, deployment of the Armed Forces, looting, plunder and the most dramatic, setting the national parliament ablaze. This all came as a surprise especially to Africanists that have viewed or tounted Kenya as a radical break with what it stereotypically labelled African.
Kenya is characterized as democratically stable and having strong democratic institutions. So the force meted out by Kenya’s police or even such rabid dissent with a leader of William Ruto’s stature and credentials can seem to be confusing. These tribeless protests can not be understood under the banal templates of “ethnic madness.” This is why I argue we must understand this protest movement as merely examples of something broader than even the protestors were saying which is characteristic of contemporary social movements.
Nomeclature
It may sound bourgeoisbut before we begin to understand the systemic shifts and questions the protest generated, we should understand it by the name under which it moves. The protests begun under the #OccupyParliament. Which was symbolic of the need to take a sovereign democratic institution and its symbolic power into the hands of the majority. This was after and slightly before parliament debated and passed the Finance Bill.
Despite objections raised and wide mass distemper against the law, parliamentarians of the Kenya Kwanza (the main party of governement) hurriedly passed the law with amendments from the minority. Government claimed that it had listened and hence the amendments. The tone shifted with Gen Z clarifying that they wanted: “Reject Not Amend.” The Amendment signalled the state’s ability to offer more if push came to shove and many urged those protesting to up the ante, and their gamble paid when Kenya’s President William Ruto declined to ratify the impugned Bill sending it back to Parliament.
It is in this context of democracy’s failure that #OcuppyParliament must be understood.
#OccupyParliament is not a fresh lexicon in the Antropocene. It first emerged in 2011 with the #OccupyWallStreet as a left-wing anarchist movement against economic inequality, corporate greed and the influence of money in politics that had begun in Zuccotti Park, in New York City’s financial district, and lasted from September 17 to November 15, 2011.
How can we better situate #OcuppyParliament without reducing it to an analogous analysis but rather steeping it within both its national, regional and international histriocity.
We can glean from the foregoing that from the onset #OcuppyMovements are mobilized online, overcoming differences emanating from historical injuries such as race, tribe (in the African context) and class, gender (not so much) as bodies assemble on the streets to make the point that life is nolonger liveable.
These protests made known a hard truth that unity does not precede political praxis; it is produced through political struggle. They bypass established democratic institutions that they think are part of the mess. They are leaderless hence less prone to compromise and represent a shift in ways of political organization.
This spectre started in 1978 with the Soweto uprising that changed the conventional understanding of struggle from armed to popular struggle. Ordinary people stopped thinking of struggle as something waged by professional fighters, armed guerrillas, with the people cheering from the stands, it continued to Tahrir square in Cairo in 2011 when Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign. Little wonder the protesters hope that for their mission to be complete, Ruto too, must resign and that’s why after him ceding to their demands and refusing to sign the law, they continued to protest insisting that he too resign under the hashtag #RutoMustGo.
The Metaphor
CNN journalist Larry Madowo interviewed two people who have been subject of humor and caricature. He asked them why they were on the streets. What particular grievances they had against the state that perhaps prompted them to come to the streets? The answers shifted from incoherent and incomphrensible to muffled and inarticulate hinting at a systemic problem from which the Finance Bill is the starting blocks through which mass hysteria could be immediately articulated.
Kenya is part of what has been termed as the African crisis or African Tragedy. The foregoing are adjectives for endemic poverty, high unemployement rates, inflation, corruption, deterioting terms of trade, cronynism and debt dependence. These were in recent times compounded by the Corona Virus pandemic, a war in Ukraine, among an array of other international factors. In such a fix with a near financial crunch just pending, the Kenyan leadership was forced onto the IMF who imposed the usual straitjacket.
The IMF insists that the crises are budgetary, i.e, that government expendintures have excedded revenues and the demand for foreign exchange outstripped supply. The short term antidote is to freeze wages, cut social programs and subsidies. Secondly, increase production from the supply side by transfering resources from the classes which have a tendency to consume to those that have a tendecy to invest. The recommendations at times include regressive tax regimes on the middle class. A middle class that been vanishing since 2008 during the Kibaki administration. It’s the same middle class on whom the new taxes would be imposed – joined by their dependant subaltern kith and kin on the streets in protests that were reminiscent of the 20th century bread riots that too, opposed IMF and World Bank Austerity.
Kenya’s path on this neo-liberal financing model must be one of the most ambitious on the continent and has been sustained across decades without proper scrutiny of its nefarious, cataclysmic implications such as the wide and dispropriate levels of inome inequality that has been an enabler in the reproduction of a political caste or aristocracy from which “alternatives” in the multi-party dispensations are to be chosen. The political economist Thandika Mkandwire refered to this as choiceless democracy given that it restricted sets of policy options available to African states, which find themselves strangled by a skewed international economic structure, the neoliberal economic and security demands of donors, and the pervasive presence of foreign NGOs and development agencies.
Therefore the inarticulate protesters referred to above speak against this context of an all powerful elite and under an ever contracted political landscape that benefits a few. The concrete example should be how the opposition had fielded amendments to this regressive bill in parliament that it later withdrew under the auspieces of a protest gaining momentum.
If the current state of democracy is limited in its scope to tackle the pervasive issues that bedevil us today and institutions of the global economy such as IMF and World Bank remain unfazed as we stand in the hot African sun to elect leaders, then democracy as it has been sold to us has failed.
So do we do as part of the #OcuppyParliament movement? Do we continue reforming the political system to which this mess is greatly attributable. As Zizek reminds us here, Marx’s key insight remains as pertinent today as it ever was: the question of freedom should not be located primarily in the political sphere – i.e. in such things as free elections, an independent judiciary, a free press, respect for human rights. Real freedom resides in the ‘apolitical’ network of social relations, from the market to the family, where the change needed in order to make improvements is not political reform, but a change in the social relations of production. We do not vote concerning who owns what, or about the relations between workers in a factory and their bosses. Such things are left to processes outside the sphere of the political, and it is an illusion that one can change them by ‘extending’ democracy – say, by setting up ‘democratic’ banks under people’s control.
The democractic illusion may thus be the real impediment to real time transformation of the social relations of production and the start of a conversation on the politics of redistribution that has been supplanted by the discourse of recognition that has atomized emanicipatory struggles.
Ruto is not the problem, the problem is sytemic and Kenyans should use this moment as an opportunity to seach for a new mode of democracy that is emancipatory. To return to the start of this blogpost, the answer as to why no one could have predicted this kind of event is simple, it required imagination, a break with the past for which most social sciences are totally incapable.
A version of this blogpost appeared as ‘Kenya’s protests as metaphors’ on 17 July 2024 in The Independent (Uganda).
Joel Mukisa is a**** radical researcher with interests in political economy, agrarian question, human rights, philosophy and psycho-analysis****.
SaltyIceteaMaker
Unknown parent • • •Oh you don't understand how much reward i get on tiktok for proving my point so much that i get blocked.
It brings me unfathomable joy
UltraGiGaGigantic
Unknown parent • • •Every one who wants something other then what i want is uninformed.
To the uninformed, no representation for you. Get over it. Go to therapy to cope with your new forever.
Hundun
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •Thebeardedsinglemalt
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •Phoenicianpirate
in reply to Thebeardedsinglemalt • • •undergroundoverground
in reply to Thebeardedsinglemalt • • •"Of course they would say that. Those Liberal, left wing universities, with their peer review, aren't to be trusted.
These hard-right think tanks (masquerading as anything other than a glorified PR firm they are) on the other hand are the definition of unbiased knowledge"
Tehdastehdas
Unknown parent • • •UltraGiGaGigantic
Unknown parent • • •IMongoose
Unknown parent • • •dubious
Unknown parent • • •Carl
Unknown parent • • •Default_Defect
in reply to Carl • • •Aqarius
Unknown parent • • •DJDarren
Unknown parent • • •WIZARD POPE💫
Unknown parent • • •CazzoneArrapante
Unknown parent • • •Schmeckinger
Unknown parent • • •Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •Or when you bring sources and they straight up ignore them entirely...
I understand not wanting to read or go through the entire Marxist-Leninist books I recommend, not everybody has the time for that, but a 5-20 minute article? You waste more time debating me after the fact than you would have just reading the article, at least do me the courtesy of skimming it and trying to engage with my points.
Phoenicianpirate
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •InputZero
in reply to Phoenicianpirate • • •OneMeaningManyNames
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to OneMeaningManyNames • • •OneMeaningManyNames
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •0x0
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Such as? Need a book to read next.
Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to 0x0 • • •0x0
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to 0x0 • • •You've got a bit of a choose your own adventure!
If you consider yourself a liberal and generally against AES like the USSR, PRC, Cuba, etc, Blackshirts and Reds is a fantastic critical reexamination and reads very well. Nothing but constant truth bombs.
If you want to get into Marxism, I recommend The Principles of Communism followed by Socialism: Utopian and Scientific as well as Elementary Principles of Philosophy. An intro/FAQ of Communism, followed by the history of Socialism and how and why Marxism answers the problems with previous Ut
... show moreYou've got a bit of a choose your own adventure!
If you consider yourself a liberal and generally against AES like the USSR, PRC, Cuba, etc, Blackshirts and Reds is a fantastic critical reexamination and reads very well. Nothing but constant truth bombs.
If you want to get into Marxism, I recommend The Principles of Communism followed by Socialism: Utopian and Scientific as well as Elementary Principles of Philosophy. An intro/FAQ of Communism, followed by the history of Socialism and how and why Marxism answers the problems with previous Utopian Socialists, and finally the best work on the philosophical aspect of Marxism, Dialectical and Historical Materialism.
If you want some quick reads, I love Why Do Marxists Fail to Bring the "Worker's Paradise?" as well as Socialism Developed China, Not Capitalism. Modern analysis, 20 minute reads, based on what we currently know and not written back in the period of Marx.
Finally, if you consider yourself a Marxist already, The State and Revolution as well as Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism are both Lenin's most significant works.
Really though, the modern works and Blackshirts and Reds are great primers before delving into Marx, Engels, and Lenin themselves.
0x0
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to 0x0 • • •∞🏳️⚧️Edie [it/its, she/her, fae/faer, love/loves, null/void, des/pair, none/use name, kitty]
in reply to 0x0 • • •leftytighty
in reply to UltraGiGaGigantic • • •justme
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •Krauerking
in reply to justme • • •Eh. By now I'm pretty sure most people just interact with the internet in order to reconfirm their already held beliefs because they expect the algorithm to give them exactly what they want and a few "wrong" things to dunk on easily for bonus points.
They don't need sources they are already right.
justme
in reply to Krauerking • • •CazzoneArrapante
in reply to WIZARD POPE💫 • • •limelight79
Unknown parent • • •I'm wondering how many people skipped your comment because it was too long.
I've had people go "I don't have time to read 3 paragraphs!", as though that's some kind of argument against the point I'm trying to make. Attention spans are down.
Reddfugee42
Unknown parent • • •Maeve
Unknown parent • • •adelita2938
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •Family Member: Russia needs to invade Ukraine because they need a shield against NATO.
Me: But NATO wasn't going to attack them. It's a defensive organization.
That's what THEY want you to believe. (Was not able to clarify who "they" were during conversation, but got the impression it wasn't nato)
Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to adelita2938 • • •TokenBoomer
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •It’s also hypocritical. NATO is willing to allow Ukraine to join, but not Russia:
Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to TokenBoomer • • •celsiustimeline
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to celsiustimeline • • •Taleya
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to Taleya • • •Taleya
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •1) The USSR was not murdered, it fell apart after decades of internal mismanagement and multiple leaders who were more invested in swinging their dicks around than feeding their people and dealing with the timebomb of internal ethnic tensions.
2) countries were already breaking away before the 'death' knell, they had been forcibly absorbed into a warmongering empire and wanted no further part in it.
3) reports of 'people thought communism was better' are not a trite thing to fling around, it's a complex issue of fear of change, fuck capitalism live to work ideology, and people from a handful of very select countries who were perched very parasitically on the top of a heap to the absolute detriment of others getting butthurt at losing that position. There is a reason why no formerly occupied country wants to return to the USSR
4). THE USSR WAS LITERALLY DISSOLVED BY ITS FOUNDING MEMBERS
Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to Taleya • • •On top of this, the majority wished to retain Socialism and want to go back. I don't "fling it around lightly," this is
... show moreOn top of this, the majority wished to retain Socialism and want to go back. I don't "fling it around lightly," this is a well-documented phenomenon, Capitalism is worse than Socialism for post-soviet countries. The USSR also wasn't an Empire, nor was it warmongering, it materially supported anticolonial and anti-imperialist movements the world over.
Taleya
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •the utter irony is what killed the USSR is reforms that would have brought it into line with how you THINK it operated. In reality it was an imperialist genocidal monolith that ran roughshod over many of its "member" states that were in fact for the most part occupied territories. Lets be very clear about that right now.
I have no idea what timeline you are dealing with, but I would also like to remind you that a forcibly oppressed population is not consent. And as soon as the repression began the lift, the riots for independence started and countries broke away. The fact that even after the dissolution of the USSR the majority of former member states wanted absolutely nothing to do with a "free" Russia should be a very large hint for you.
I was not talking about wealth disparity. I was talking about quality of life. This is very well documented.
The founding member states of the soviet union were Belarus, the Russian SFSR (roughly what we consider to be Russia today), the Transcaucasian Federation (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia), and the Ukra
... show morethe utter irony is what killed the USSR is reforms that would have brought it into line with how you THINK it operated. In reality it was an imperialist genocidal monolith that ran roughshod over many of its "member" states that were in fact for the most part occupied territories. Lets be very clear about that right now.
I have no idea what timeline you are dealing with, but I would also like to remind you that a forcibly oppressed population is not consent. And as soon as the repression began the lift, the riots for independence started and countries broke away. The fact that even after the dissolution of the USSR the majority of former member states wanted absolutely nothing to do with a "free" Russia should be a very large hint for you.
I was not talking about wealth disparity. I was talking about quality of life. This is very well documented.
The founding member states of the soviet union were Belarus, the Russian SFSR (roughly what we consider to be Russia today), the Transcaucasian Federation (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia), and the Ukraine. You know that "union" part of USSR? Yeah, it actually refers to a union of states. And they were the ones who pulled the plug.
Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to Taleya • • •No, it wasn't. It was not imperialist, and supported countless anticolonial and anti-imperialist movements. It was not genocidal either.
... show moreThis is ahist
No, it wasn't. It was not imperialist, and supported countless anticolonial and anti-imperialist movements. It was not genocidal either.
This is ahistorical, again, the majority voted to retain the USSR and the majority of people say their lives were better under Socialism than Capitalism. This tracks with higher life expectancy, lower poverty rates, and other metrics in the USSR than in present post-Soviet Capitalist states. There wasn't a "moment of lifting repression," in fact repression increased under Capitalism with Shock Doctrine.
Quality of life skyrocketed over time, they went from one of the poorest states in Europe to one of the most developed in less than a century. It is very well documented that the Soviets went from immense poverty to doubled life expectancy, 99%+ literacy rates, free healthcare and education, food security, democratization of the economy, mass scientific achievement, high rates of home ownership, and more throughout its lifetime.
Oh, even more absurd, you're pretending countries have souls.
Read Blackshirts and Reds. It's 10 times as hard to debunk anticommunist red scare-era nonsense than it is to firehose falsehoods and half-truths.
Taleya
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Do you know what decossackization was.
Do you know what the Kazakh famine was.
Do you know what the Holomodor was.
Do you know what the Finnish, Estonian and Polish Operations were.
Do you know what the Khaibakh massacre was.
Do you know what the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars was.
Do you know what the Sumgait pogrom was
Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to Taleya • • •As a few examples, all straight from Wikipedia, none of what you listed is accepted as genocide, decreasingly so after the openings of the Soviet Archives. It is extremely easy to randomly look up a western list of soviet repressions, and far harder to actually dig into what happened and if it truly constituted genocide. It's especially telling that you ignore the rest of your nonsense that I debunked in favor of perpetuating your firehose tactics, seemingly not caring if even western historians agree with you.
... show moreSeveral scholars have categorised this as a form of genocide,[6][7][8][9][10] whil
As a few examples, all straight from Wikipedia, none of what you listed is accepted as genocide, decreasingly so after the openings of the Soviet Archives. It is extremely easy to randomly look up a western list of soviet repressions, and far harder to actually dig into what happened and if it truly constituted genocide. It's especially telling that you ignore the rest of your nonsense that I debunked in favor of perpetuating your firehose tactics, seemingly not caring if even western historians agree with you.
Several scholars have categorised this as a form of genocide,[6][7][8][9][10] whilst other historians have highly disputed this classification due to the contentious figures which range from "a few thousand to incredible claims of hundreds of thousands".[11][12][13]
Some historians describe the famine as legally recognizable as a genocide perpetrated by the Soviet state, under the definition outlined by the United Nations; however, some argue otherwise.
While scholars are in consensus that the cause of the famine was man-made,[10][11] it remains in dispute whether the Holodomor was directed at Ukrainians and whether it constitutes a genocide, the point of contention being the absence of attested documents explicitly ordering the starvation of any area in the Soviet Union.
Nothing in the Wikipedia article covers genocide.
And so on. Again, read Blackshirts and Reds. You might learn something. No, the USSR was by no means perfect, but it wasn't the monstrosity you depict it as either.
Taleya
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to Taleya • • •Manzas
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Edit:If you think I am lying ask someone from a place that got occupied by the USSR most of you just go like: I saw this meme in the shit posting community time to make this my whole thing defending empires that don't exist anymore
Lyricism6055
in reply to TokenBoomer • • •TokenBoomer
in reply to Lyricism6055 • • •lulztard
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to lulztard • • •lulztard
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to lulztard • • •Krauerking
in reply to dubious • • •Focus on "joy" and hope you are rich enough to feel really good about life until it all blows up?
That seems to be the stance of the younger and the wealthier left, and you can see the nightmare self hatred that is already causing if you aren't.
Krauerking
Unknown parent • • •Krauerking
Unknown parent • • •Yeah it's called a helicopter.
Most of the extremely wealthy use then to avoid traffic and occasionally die in them cause flying is more complicated than SciFi made it seem.
Look at the mansions and companies that all include landing pads. They aren't just for die hard movies.
SlopppyEngineer
in reply to Krauerking • • •Krauerking
in reply to SlopppyEngineer • • •Right but none are what the past thought of. None of these are cars or street legal really in any way.
Also it's cheating to say no one has died in them if nobody is really flying around them. There have been crashes but like a really limited sample size.
dubious
in reply to Krauerking • • •i can't tell if this is supposed to be sarcasm or not but this is godawful moral advice.
"stay comfy and forget about it if you can"
do we or do we not have an obligation to be stewards of the earth? obviously the decision is a personal one. i guess i've decided with my post existential thoughts that we do, and that if you don't agree with me, i don't want you on my team. or the planet for that matter.
Krauerking
in reply to dubious • • •Its pretty godawful advice.
But it's advice I do see going around and people taking seriously.
dubious
in reply to Krauerking • • •octopus_ink
Unknown parent • • •Yes. The thing to remember is in many cases you aren't explaining for the person you are debating with or answering a question for. You are doing it for others who may read the conversation.
I've had things brought to light in online discussion change my mind or educate me many times. When I see someone claim these conversations are useless or a waste of time, I just think they are really setting weird criteria for what constitutes a waste of time.
Sure, sometimes I ain't got no time for that, but other times I do, and I figure the same is true for many others as well.
Krauerking
in reply to dubious • • •SlopppyEngineer
in reply to Krauerking • • •mEEGal
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •Corgana
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •I think it's totally reasonable to ask for a source about a historical claim if something hasn't been true for over a decade?
EDIT: My source for this opinion is here
cheesepotatoes
in reply to Corgana • • •celsiustimeline
in reply to Corgana • • •Corgana
in reply to celsiustimeline • • •Corgana
Unknown parent • • •PM_Your_Nudes_Please
in reply to limelight79 • • •I tend to front-load my comments as much as possible, to try and avoid just that. Make the main point ASAP. But even then, there’s only so much you can do without sounding messy.
For instance, I front-loaded the part about reader comprehension. All of the “why” is in later paragraphs. But even if they only read the first few sentences, they’ll at least get my overall point.
It does make nuanced discussion impossible though. I work in a pretty specialized field (professional audio) with lots of snake oil myths about what will or won’t make your system sound better. There have been several times that I have seen people parroting this snake oil type stuff as if it is genuine advice. And often, this advice happens because the person only has a surface-level understanding of how audio works. Something sounds plausible, (and they don’t understand the underlying principles that would disprove it,) so they end up perpetuating the myth. So a lot of discussions boil down to “well kind of but not really” and people won’t bothe
... show moreI tend to front-load my comments as much as possible, to try and avoid just that. Make the main point ASAP. But even then, there’s only so much you can do without sounding messy.
For instance, I front-loaded the part about reader comprehension. All of the “why” is in later paragraphs. But even if they only read the first few sentences, they’ll at least get my overall point.
It does make nuanced discussion impossible though. I work in a pretty specialized field (professional audio) with lots of snake oil myths about what will or won’t make your system sound better. There have been several times that I have seen people parroting this snake oil type stuff as if it is genuine advice. And often, this advice happens because the person only has a surface-level understanding of how audio works. Something sounds plausible, (and they don’t understand the underlying principles that would disprove it,) so they end up perpetuating the myth. So a lot of discussions boil down to “well kind of but not really” and people won’t bother reading anything past the “well kind of” part.
CazzoneArrapante
in reply to Krauerking • • •Lord Wiggle
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •I rather have a source to support a claim instead of "but it's how I feel so it's real! Scientists don't know anything, stop debunk my feelings with facts because I know I'm right! I read it on Facebook!"
We need more reliable and supported sources and less fake news.
nickwitha_k (he/him)
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •Lord Wiggle
Unknown parent • • •Source? Because that's so not true. Birds are an invention by the government, they are robots to spy on us. The government wants us to believe they always existed. It's all fabricated lies created by the government. Source
I fucking hate newsletter emails but this is the only site I registered for one. I'm launching my ass off every single time. 😂 I love satire haha
wickedrando
Unknown parent • • •dubious
in reply to Krauerking • • •daltotron
Unknown parent • • •daltotron
Unknown parent • • •daltotron
Unknown parent • • •Use illogical, bad faith arguments to trick them into believing that the sky is blue, of course. People fall for horrible stupid dumb propaganda, it's the nature of humanity. Only like 5% of people are really gonna bother to go actually read studies and shit, I don't even really do that, I just look at the abstracts and then hope that the scientists didn't fuck up and run the study wrong or engage in p-hacking or something. I couldn't afford to go to college and take a statistics course, and my only form of education beyond that is watching 3brown1blue videos at 2x speed interspersed with useless escapist brainrot.
Everyone wants to believe that humans are some highly logical computer creatures that can just be convinced if we get hit with enough rigorous logical argumentation. We're really not. You can make something much more convincing to someone if you validate their ego, or if you incentivize someone into believing a certain kind of truth as a result of their survival in a certain context, right.
... show moreEven if we were purely logical beings, that wouldn't even really solve
Use illogical, bad faith arguments to trick them into believing that the sky is blue, of course. People fall for horrible stupid dumb propaganda, it's the nature of humanity. Only like 5% of people are really gonna bother to go actually read studies and shit, I don't even really do that, I just look at the abstracts and then hope that the scientists didn't fuck up and run the study wrong or engage in p-hacking or something. I couldn't afford to go to college and take a statistics course, and my only form of education beyond that is watching 3brown1blue videos at 2x speed interspersed with useless escapist brainrot.
Everyone wants to believe that humans are some highly logical computer creatures that can just be convinced if we get hit with enough rigorous logical argumentation. We're really not. You can make something much more convincing to someone if you validate their ego, or if you incentivize someone into believing a certain kind of truth as a result of their survival in a certain context, right.
Even if we were purely logical beings, that wouldn't even really solve the problem, because we're all exposed to vastly different information landscapes, i.e. every MAGA guy you run into has probably be tweaking out to AM radio for 8 contiguous hours at their job, or socializing with a bunch of insularly sexist, homophobic, or racist good old boys in an echo chamber for most hours of the day, or whatever else, right. So, what hope can you have to change their minds over the course of a 1 or 2 hour conversation? If even that. And double this for everyone out there that spends their time listening to NPR, or has milder takes about things, or even just spends their time passively absorbing whatever propaganda floats at them through pop culture and escapist media consumption.
Phoenicianpirate
Unknown parent • • •Also trolls and propagandists employ bad faith tactics specifically to make their opposition do the bulk of the world, which they either ignore after or they just laugh at for some bullshit reason they claim is a gotcha.
There is an Islamophobic author who has been employing shit like in his books since the 90s. It isn't new at all.
Phoenicianpirate
Unknown parent • • •dubious
in reply to daltotron • • •zeppo
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •Lightfire228
in reply to zeppo • • •odelik
in reply to zeppo • • •usualsuspect191
in reply to zeppo • • •NigelFrobisher
in reply to ComradeSharkfucker • • •KⒶMⒶLⒶ WⒶLZ 2Ⓐ24
in reply to daltotron • • •daltotron
in reply to dubious • • •usualsuspect191
Unknown parent • • •This is my first exposure to this idea and it's quite compelling. Couple that with the perceived tone being argumentative instead of inquisitive or ignorant and that's a recipe for disaster.
The fact the algorithms only care about engagement, positive or negative, means rage bait takes over too so that doesn't help the perception that a question is actually an attack.
PM_Your_Nudes_Please
in reply to usualsuspect191 • • •I first heard about it due to my buddy (a high school English teacher) complaining about how his incoming students were incredibly far behind in basic reading comprehension skills. We ended up having a pretty long talk about it, and he mentioned that all of his colleagues have noticed the same thing.
I did some digging, and discovered that language teachers everywhere have basically been lamenting the fact that the upcoming generation just straight up doesn’t know how to interpret media when it falls outside of their personal algorithms. I ended up talking with another buddy of mine (a writer for a magazine) and he mentioned that they have started needing to change the way they write, because people have simply lost the ability to comprehend what they read. Skimming the first one or two paragraphs is the new norm, even for in-depth news articles. So they have to load as much content into the early paragraphs as possible.