MAGA Rep Gives Scummiest Defense of Trump’s Friendship With Epstein
There’s nothing wrong with being friends with child sex traffickers, according to Representative Tim Burchett.Speaking with Fox News on Thursday, the Tennessee Republican tried to brush off Donald Trump’s reportedly cozy relationship with notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein by offering his own slimy admission.
“They knew each other, they ran in the same circles,” Burchett told the network. “It’s just like me, I know a lot of dirtbags myself.”
MAGA Rep Gives Scummiest Defense of Trump’s Friendship With Epstein
Representative Tim Burchett really thought he popped off with this.The New Republic
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This Natural, Zero-Calorie Sweetener Could Be a Secret Weapon Against Cancer
This Natural, Zero-Calorie Sweetener Could Be a Secret Weapon Against Cancer : ScienceAlert
In an unexpected twist in the fight against cancer, humble kitchen bacteria and a plant best known for sweetening tea could one day help in treating one of humanity's deadliest diseases, new research suggests.The Conversation (ScienceAlert)
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but I’m going to assume they’re talking about aspartame
Fight AGAINST cancer, not cause it!
Spoiler, they are talking about fermented stevia.
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For sure, it's "dose dependent". I was just correcting the assumption.
For a very small 45kg human that comes out to 30 cans of coke zero per day.
Not to split hairs, but the WHO says that the limit is between 9 to 14 cans for a 150lb person, which is still a lot, but not unreasonably so.
Considering that some countries have yearly soda consumption over 200L per person, coupled with the fact that someone who might be drinking diet cola, may also be using sugar-free foods (i.e. aspartame containing foods) throughout the day, then it seems possible that some may exceed the limit.
And that doesn't factor in different metabolic rates, other foods or medications that might enhance the effect, etc.
Disappointingly, stevia has a much lower "recommended limit", despite being shown to be safe. I wonder if that's because stevia comes from a plant, and not out of a lab, so it's harder to patent and monopolize in the market. 🤔
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Did a quick search, in higher doses stevia may cause mutagenic effects and regulatory bodies initially classified it as safe over the objections of some researchers who say it needs more studies on this effect. Stevia also lowers blood pressure and can cause light headedness and fainting in larger doses. The effect on blood pressure is potentially fatal in small children and people with certain health complications.
In less refined forms stevia also carries a high risk of allergic reactions because it's a form of ragweed but the stuff used as a dietary sweetener is highly refined so that shouldn't effect the recommended limit.
Goddamn. 😮
OK, a quick double-check (all I have time for), suggests these Ill effects come in mega doses (unreasonably high doses, like the equivalent of dozens of pounds of sugar), and/or in rodents.
At the same time, I see studies claiming that stevia has quite a few health benefits, ranging from preventing tooth decay to reducing tumors.
And the fermented variety in the OP should be even safer/better.
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Zohran Mamdani Must Confront the NYPD. Here's What He Can Do.
Zohran Mamdani Must Confront the NYPD. Here's What He Can Do. | The Nation
No single issue will be more challenging for a Mayor Mamdani than policing. But there are concrete steps he can take to reform the NYPD and curb its culture of impunity.The Nation
US military says it has killed senior ISIL (ISIS) leader in Syria’s Aleppo
US military says it has killed senior ISIL (ISIS) leader in Syria’s Aleppo
Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani and two of his sons affiliated to the group were killed in a raid, the US military saysAl Jazeera
Zohran Mamdani Hangs Out Backstage With Wu-Tang Clan to Talk About NYC’s Affordability Crisis
Zohran Mamdani Shares Video Backstage with Wu-Tang Clan
Zohran Mamdani shared a campaign video of himself backstage with Wu-Tang Clan, Killer Mike, Jadakiss and more at Madison Square Garden.Mackenzie Cummings-Grady (Billboard)
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The video, but it's more a campaign ad than a discussion:
It's cool to see a nationally recognizable politician legitimately geek out meeting celebs tho. Biden hanging out with Clooney was such a bad look, because they were both so used to it.
This was humanizing for Mamdani, and rather than just say he's great, all the celebs made it about what he can do to fix shit.
It's the opposite of tone deaf.
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en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_U…
It's a lot more interesting than that.
It's a commentary on the financial aspect of art, and how traditional art can't be shared with everyone for free, but music can.
There's an 88 year clock before the owner can sell copies, and they're not supposed to give out duplicates. But since the date of purchase the owner, and only the owner, can release it publicly for free.
Either it's for everyone for free, or one person for an exorbitant amount of money that's clearly not worth the price.
It's some deep shit, not everyone is going to get it.
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Trump says he hasn't considered pardoning Maxwell, but is "allowed" to. And everyone should look at Clinton instead
Sorry again for changing the headline but wanted the interesting part out again. Full video in the story.
OG headline: ‘I never went to that island’: Trump says of Epstein’s underage getaway and tells reporters to talk about Bill Clinton
‘I never went to that island,’ Trump says of Epstein’s underage getaway as he tells reporters to talk about Bill Clinton
Trump is visiting his golf courses in Scotland as questions continue to swirl around his former ties to dead pedophile Jeffrey EpsteinAndrew Feinberg (The Independent)
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Well now we know what the Maxwell "testimony" is going to be:
Trump was never there, but Clinton was there every weekend.
Annnnd pardoned.
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They'll spin it as "now she's ready to talk!"
But the truth is she's already talked, and said multiple times she has nothing else she hasn't said.
The reason she never got anything for info, is she's already lied and willing to say anything to be released.
I fully expect her to "exonorate" trump, blame all his enemies, get released...
And dead almost immediately so nothing else can be said.
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It’s implied that he has -1000% body fat.
Quite literally body fat turns itself into muscle on his body.
If trump has even an iota of brainpower:
No pardon. The List that doesn't exist suddenly comes out and it is mostly prominent democrats outside of a few sacrificial lamb republicans. don jr would be a great choice since trump hates his guts even more than we do but it gives a reason for why he would have been hesitant to share it. It becomes vulnerability and compassion as an excuse for corruption. And he pardons don jr when he remembers to.
But what will actually happen is maxwell gets the pardon and the list is just clinton and Obama a hundred times, in sharpie.
So the obvious fix is that they're going to meet with Maxwell and secure her false testimony in exchange for a pardon, but at this point, no one's going to believe her if she says Trump was never involved. If she's smart, and I hope she is, she realizes that a pardon with Trump still in power is worthless. There's no way they'd let a loose end like her live out her days, too much of a risk. In that case the best option would be to play along and act like that's what you're going to do, get in the hot seat in front of Congress, swear on a book, then tell the absolute uncut truth about EVERYTHING that Trump, and any other rich politicians, then explain that her life is in danger and that Trump wants her dead because of what she knows, and that she has even more info.
Drop that fucking bombshell in front of Congress and the whole world, and she may actually come out of things a free woman who's somewhat redeemed herself, and completely fucked over a lot of shitty human beings. If she plays ball with Trump, no one will believe her, and she'll just end up suicided in a few months. I'm sure she's well aware of the likely scenarios. You can't run and hide from a psychopath who's in charge of the best military and equipment in the world. You have to kill the king in front of his own court.
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no one’s going to believe her
Give the Wingnut Wurlitzer a few weeks to work the crowd.
Plenty of people scoffed at QAnon and the MIA/POW guys or Sovereign Citizens or Scientologists in the beginning. But enough time and memes and AM Radio Heads screaming at their audiences. Now its just a big part of the received wisdom of the crowd. In the wrong group, you're weird if you don't believe their dogma.
If she plays ball with Trump, no one will believe her, and she’ll just end up suicided in a few months.
If she plays ball with Trump, a bunch of the WSJ Trump-Epstein articles go away and we get back to calling Columbia students antisemitic for protesting genocide.
Yes the POW/MIA thing has it's origins in a conspiracy theory that the US knew about thousands of American military members that were alive and in POW camps in Vietnam, but left them behind and lied about it.
That is the origin. I'm sure a lot of people with the flags just think it's a remembrance thing though.
It gave us Rambo. Well, maybe not First Blood, but the sequels....
theoutline.com/post/7984/rambo…
The Vietnam myth that gave us all those ‘Rambo’ movies
For decades, conspiracy theorists have clung to the fiction that thousands of soldiers are being held captive in Asia.Nathan Smith (The Outline)
Wait, was the POW/MIA thing some kind of conspiracy?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_…
Considerable speculation and investigation have been devoted to a hypothesis that a significant number of missing U.S. service members from the Vietnam War were captured as prisoners of war by communist forces and kept as live prisoners after U.S. involvement in the war concluded in 1973. A vocal group of POW/MIA activists has maintained that there has been a concerted conspiracy by the Vietnamese and U.S. governments since then to hide the existence of these prisoners. The U.S. government has steadfastly denied that prisoners were left behind or that any effort has been made to cover up their existence. Popular culture has reflected the "live prisoners" theory, such as in the 1985 film Rambo: First Blood Part II. Several congressional investigations have looked into the issue, culminating with the largest and most thorough, the United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs of 1991–93, which found "no compelling evidence that proves that any American remains alive in captivity in Southeast Asia."
It was Ross Perot's flagship issue during the early 80s
I just can't imagine that she will choose that course of action as the safest.
Additionally, I don't really think testimony and a pardon is going to satisfy his base. Strange though it may be, given all the other shit we've seen, this particular turd just won't seem to flush.
Also, I don't think the republicans would be silly enough to give her that opportunity. Even if she doesn't intentionally fuck it up she might still fuck it up.
If I were her, I would just tell them to set her up in a beach front condo in some tropical locale and they can post "security" to make sure she doesn't publish her memoirs and they can have paparazzi take photos of her sunbathing to show she's alive if that's still a thing and she can stay like that till Trump is dead in the ground.
This really says it all. I don't give a crap who's in the Epstein files—they should all be investigated.
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The guitar and the hats and the flags and the cologne and the watch seem to also be missing.
What else?
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I mean....this is the tribe that rubs shit in their hair that we are talking about, though:
driftglass.blogspot.com/2014/0…
The Grand Dragon of the Tribe That Rubs Shit In Their Hair -- UPDATE Of Course There's Video
Longtime readers know that "The Tribe That Rubs Shit In Their Hair" is my shorthand for inbred Conservative meatsticks who have wallowe...driftglass.blogspot.com
If there’s any way I can be more transparent about it or a better way to go about it I’m happy to oblige. Article titles nowadays just aren’t forthcoming. Intentionally so to get people to click.
I just wanna make sure the important bit is surfaced.
I really wish Clinton would have been forced to resign in 1996.
Politicians should be disposable when they are found to be terrible people that committed bad acts. Whenever we find serious dirt on them they should be drummed out of fucking town. In contrast to, you know, the current thing which is to elect a fucking convicted felon and admitted sexual predator president because he's some kind of special politician we have to allow to continue to be a completely unaccountable filthy fucking shit pig for some reason.
Monica Lewinsky was 22 years old, an adult, when she sucked Bill Clinton's cock. Who the fuck cares?
Trump and the Republicans rape children.
No no, you misunderstand, Trump gives the list he himself created.
He wants those people not just removed from his own life but also wishes them to endure demeaning and progressively worsening life altering events.
Dear Trumpy,
Yes, Bill Clinton is a piece of shit and sex pest at best. We have no problems with Billie Clinton being investigated.
Sincerely,
Leftists
I just feel that the same amount of congressional SHIT FITS should apply to a pedophile that applied to Bill getting a blowie.
They fucking shut down government over that silly shit. Meanwhile the R's are apparently happy to help the pedo.
Here are all of the Epstein Files that have either been leaked or released.
joshwho.net/EpsteinList/gov.us… (verified court documents)
joshwho.net/EpsteinList/black-… (verified pre-Bondi) Trump is on page 85, or pdf pg. 80
Trump’s name is circled. The circled individuals are the ones involved in the trafficking ring according to the person who originally released the book. These people would be “The List “ Here is the story.
Here's the flight logs documentcloud.org/documents/21…
—————————other Epstein Information
cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFile… here’s a court doc of Epstein and Trump raping a 13 yr old together.
Some people think this claim is a hoax. Here is Katies testimony on youtube:
Epstein’s Ex Says He Boasted About Being a Mossad Agent share.google/jLMGahKlCzfV1RHZq Epstein and Israel both hired lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who says he's building 'legal dream team' to defend Israel in court and on internationally | The Times of Israel share.google/Lb9hDOduBWG4Elpid
Epstein Docs: ia600705.us.archive.org/21/ite…
Epstein Bribes/Payments: 1 BILLION+
—————————other Trump information:
Here's trump admitting to peeping on 14-15 year old girls at around 1:40 on the Howard Stern Radio Show: youtu.be/iFaQL_kv_QY
Trump's promise to his daughter: huffpost.com/entry/donald-trum… “I have a deal with her. She’s 17 and doing great ― Ivanka. She made me promise, swear to her that I would never date a girl younger than her,” Trump said. “So as she grows older, the field is getting very limited.”
Trump's modeling agency was probably part of Jeffreys pipeline: motherjones.com/politics/2016/…
A good summary of Trump-Epstein timeline: thepresidential.medium.com/we-…
• Much of this info can also be found on: theepsteindocs.com/
Feel free to do your part and spread this info around so it is never “lost”.
Donald Trump Said He Promised Ivanka He Wouldn't Date Girls Younger Than Her
“So as she grows older, the field is getting very limited.” 😬Paige Lavender (HuffPost)
"I'm allowed to" is something a child mind thinks and says when it feels it needs to seek permission.
Of course you're allowed to. Pardons are granted in the Constitution. Speak with authority and command in your position. Not like a weak little bitch who thinks "I'm allowed to.".
Everyone knows the toddler president is a weak, pathetic fool. Only someone who is a more weak and pathetic fool could be his supporter or sycophant.
US Drops Sanctions on Myanmar Junta Allies After Trump Praise
DIRTY DOZEN: The 12 Friends of Donald Trump Accused of Sex Crimes
DIRTY DOZEN: The 12 Friends of Donald Trump Accused of Sex Crimes
Trump’s tangled ties to a cast of alleged sexual predators—spanning financiers, fixers, musical stars, and politicians—risk detonating anew as his supporters demand answers he can’t or won’t give.Tom Latchem (The Daily Beast)
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In 2015, he told Rolling Stone that Ivanka was “a beauty, that one. If I weren’t happily married and, ya know, her father …”
Funny that “married” came to mind first in the list of reasons not to fuck his daughter.
And we know how strongly he values the sanctity of marriage.
“If he were reelected?”
Is this article trying to normalize this anti-constitutional third term bullshit from the Republicans?
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The Kherson episode is distinct from an earlier report of an incident that purportedly occurred that same September, involving Crimea just to the south, and raised concerns about Musk’s ability to influence the conflict in Ukraine.
Bob and Doug, from Second City television.
Didn't want anyone to think it was cultural misappropriation or rocking and our neighbors to north. If there ever was a truer hoser than musk I'm not sure who it is
Oh, I remember hearing about this in 2022. There was a ton of speculation about this. I'm glad it's been confirmed.
Hoping one day the MuskRat finds himself behind bars.
When I pointed out the first time this happened, I was pummeled in the comments by people saying that he just doesn't want to be complicit in anything. Okay, but then why did he give Ukraine a bunch of Starlink receivers to begin with? And now this is the second or third time he's fucked the Ukrainians by turning off the service as they're taking back their land.
He a fucking clown. He wants his service used, but he doesn't want any consequences. He just wants to drag the war out and add "Powered by Starlink". He's given himself some control over the conflict, while enriching himself for as long as it continues.
Yeah, I wasn't really sure of his reasoning here, but I don't think it was very good to begin with.
Unfortunately, we already know that he has way too much power for a private citizen.
I think in 2022, he still had some fans, he hadn't quite ruined his image all the way yet, even though most of us could see the writing on the wall. It sucks you got jumped for that, though.
I'm in the "We should Nationalize Starlink without giving him a dime" camp as recompense for this crime.
why did he give Ukraine a bunch of Starlink receivers
Because those receivers were "free" for the Ukrainians but someone else paid millions for that
Imagine paying $500/month for each "free" receiver because "military applications needs maximum quality" but when the vatnik CEO gets a call from its owner "oh no today it glitched!”
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one more took some significant steps in that direction earlier this year.
One? Last I checked, both weather and mail are both on their way to privatization.
Yeah. These dumbasses forget that government funding is what originally set the stage and enabled any progress at all for private company-entrepreneurs who benefitted from all that publicly available knowledge, paid for by our tax dollars.
Innovation will slow to a trickle with all these government cuts because these companies literally can't pay for anything not directly related to their bottom dollar, and none of them can see far enough past next quarter's profits to invest in the future.
Human knowledge is always cumulative ya dunce. If we were to apply your logic we should instead give all of our science and research to Greece, China and the Middle East since they pioneered the innovations upon which civilization is built.
I’m not defending any government cuts or anything fyi. Im just saying the fact that nationalization doesn’t work, and it has never worked. Theres people who still think critically instead of relying on trying to score points for a team.
But it's such a good word lol.
I legitimately grew up watching SCTV and it's one movie spinoff. Saturday night live was good back then too. But damn that SCTV cast was epic. Moranis, Thomas, Radner, Flaherty, Leve, Short, Candy and of course O'hara
This is a perfect example of why we have to confiscate the bulk of the fortunes of Sociopathic Oligarchs.
We have this guy operating his own foreign policy in a very sensitive war with nuclear weapons in the mix. The rest of the world shouldn't have to be at the mercy of his arrogance and hubris, waiting for him to get bored with this game, and move onto the next one, hopefully before he blows up the planet.
He has been proven to be massive national and global security threat, who will only become more dangerous as he hoards more money. Just strip his citizenship, confiscate his money and his companies, and deport him to South Africa. Then use his example as a threat to other Sociopathic Oligarchs.
I actually am skeptical of nationalization. I think the free market is more efficient in most situations.
But if you think SpaceX is running circles around NASA, well that's so ridiculous that I'm starting to doubt myself.
They did though, they massively cut costs of launching a rocket, which is again the real barrier for space exploration, especially commercially viable space exploration. It’s not clear that NASA could have done that seeing how their costs remained roughly the same for decades, but don’t take it from me, take it from NASA themselves:
ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20…
What’s your counter argument for saying they didn’t run circles around NASA?
ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20…
I’m just gonna reply to everyone with this, since it drives my point home and comes from NASA themselves. You can read it or not if you want, but my point is that SpaceX reduced costs in a way NASA by itself was not capable of doing. The main reason as you might imagine is the proper incentives were not there in the same way that they exist for private industry. Look at Section 3 point B. Institutional causes and cures of very high space launch cost.
Human knowledge is always cumulative ya dunce.
Human knowledge can be (and historically, often has been) destroyed as well as accumulated. It's a myth originating with the Whigs that history always moved in the direction of progress. As recent political events in the US have shown, that's not true.
nationalization doesn’t work, and it has never worked
Except, for example, in every developed-world health care delivery system, all of which massively outperform the private-sector US system both on cost and on outcomes. Likewise, fire departments, interstate highway systems, public water supplies, armies, etc, etc.
So before calling someone a dunce, you might do well to learn more about the many things you don't know.
I was going to say there's no rules against saying "Elon Musk should be killed" here on Lemmy, but then I saw we're on Lemmy.world, and I think they're trying to be the new Reddit.
(For any mods, this is not a call for violence, simply stating a thing that isn't allowed. Please read it again if you think I made a call to violence.)
Well I never said anything about progress, I said it’s cumulative. We never destroy more than we have accumulated. None of the knowledge we have today would exist without the knowledge of our earliest of ancestors when Homo sapiens was still thousands of years away. That being said, looking at the sheer amount of time we’ve been accumulating knowledge even if we had a thousand years of absolute barbarity and massive ignorance, the statement that knowledge tends towards progress would still be true. The present is a blip in the scale of human history.
To address your other point. Yes I’ll admit that I was too universalistic in my argument in the heat of the moment so to speak. But the big caveat is that it does not necessarily lead to, and most always doesn’t lead to better service for end user. It’s a trade off in most cases. But I’ll never argue in favor of privatized healthcare or education for example. The loss in efficiency is simply not enough to justify the real human cost of the alternative. But cutting edge technology that is not essential, such as space travel, computers etc, belong in the private market where the right incentives to make improvements exist.
It depends, maybe they like the contents of some instances like this one
Although on some blocks I can't disagree:
The .world domain appears to be unblocked, at least on some of the test sites.
chinafirewalltest.com/?siteurl…
cloudwards.net/tools/chinese-f…
China Firewall Test: See if a Site is Blocked [WORKING 2025 ]
China’s Great Firewall blocks many websites from other countries. Our China firewall test checks if a website is blocked in China.Samuel Chapman (Cloudwards)
I think they should be taken down or taken over by another entity. They were launched under the premise they were a utility and it turns out they're being used military.
I dont mean the internet access itself but the giving and striping of access to suit a military agenda goes beyond the pervue of an organization claiming to be an ISP or commercial utility.
I'm not entirely sure of the exact legalities but I have some experience working cube-sats and have some insights on this.
Since Low Earth Orbit is getting kinda crowded you now have to ensure that your satellite deorbits within 5 years of deployment. So that 5 year figure does limit the satellites lifespan. Quite significantly sometimes because you have to ensure that even if the satellite is dead on arrival it deorbits within those five years.
I bet all of these restrictions can be alleviated to some extent if you're a super rich dickhead but that's how it is for us.
I know that the Starlink birds deploy at a relatively low altitude, then climb to service height under their own power, so they deorbit quite fast if they're DOA.
My impression was the five year figure is without the satellite boosting it's orbit, but I could be wrong.
Do yours have their own engine?
Reading directly from your source: one of NASA's key drivers have been RELIABILITY, and a "non-industrial" culture. Of course both of these things drive cost up. "Industrial" cultures have eliminated creativity since Henry Ford introduced the assembly line at his plant--everyone has a single efficient responsibility and it makes everyone miserable as a result, leading to nobody giving a single damn at the end of the day.
In the same paragraph you linked:
"The low Shuttle flight rate not only
makes for inefficient use of personnel and facilities, it distorts the cost per flight calculations because of high fixed
costs.” (Rutledge, 93-4063)"
Meaning that if they had modified their program and product to launch more frequently like SpaceX does, then the costs would be much more favorable.
And also:
"Another key factor in SpaceX’s low costs is its young, highly motivated workforce of top
graduates willing to work significant unpaid overtime. "
This is NOT a good thing--people shouldn't have to slave away for their career. It's also not sustainable, and it means that the work is being done by inexperienced individuals which leads to disasters like:
texastribune.org/2024/12/18/te… and
SpaceX's 1st Starship launch destroyed pad with volcano-sized explosion
SpaceX's Starship rocket atop its Super Heavy booster is the most powerful rocket in history, capable of generating the same force as a volcanic eruption.Morgan McFall-Johnsen (Business Insider)
But they had no incentives to send the shuttle more often because they do not have a commercial interest in being able to do so. It’s very easy to say, they could have done X or Y thing, but here’s the thing: they didn’t, not for decades and they are still not doing it now. Theoretically given the resources they have they should have never been able to hav been shown by Space X how to save costs, but that’s the paradox of having a lot of theoretically infinite funding (in relative terms) you dont have an incentive to squeeze every little drop of efficiency that you can.
Sure you raise some good points, but you also seem to have glossed over how absolutely bloated the agency is by their own admission in this paper. Why did NASA need all that personnel when SpaceX did better with a fraction? And if what you say is true about hyper specialization is true, which org do you think was more hyper specialized the one that had magnitudes more employees or the one that had to do with a fraction of the money and the personnel.
Again, the fact of the matter is SpaceX is more efficient at this than NASA. It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact confirmed by NASA themselves. That’s the bottom line for me here.
If we are gonna fret over collateral damage of every little thing we do, we might as well go back to the caves. Steps are taken to reduce it but it can never be fully avoided. Has a NASA rocket never exploded? Would you rather freeze human technology and science in its current state? Because if you look at history we break shit in order to learn how to not break shit and how to fix shit and how to improve it. I’m frankly sick of this performative ludditism.
Edit: that being said I am not advocating for dismantling NASA or anything. The way I see it NASA should focus on research, while SpaceX can focus on making commercially viable rockets. Like we don’t have USPS making their trucks.
I get it, you're just trolling. There is no valid argument here; NASA is a government institution who's intention is to serve the people through scientific advancement, not scrounge up a fucking profit. I literally just showed you that SpaceX is only more "efficient" by taking advantage of people, which is the complete opposite end of the spectrum from what government is supposed to do. They are not even competitors. They're not even competing; SpaceX will never develop the technology that NASA did, that SpaceX relied on to be in business in the first place.
The original conversation wasn't even about money, efficiency, or profit; it was about the ability to create and benefit society. Because SpaceX has a profit motive, it will never be able to create and innovate the same way NASA did; it'll only ever be able to fulfill narrowly defined contacts. Because guess what? If it goes beyond that, it'll basically be where NASA is and then you'll be in here bitching about them too because they're not "as efficient" as the people they're paying to do a simple, narrowly defined task with overworked, inexperienced employees as they generate rampant environmental harm.
I really wasn’t going to dignify this with an answer. But fuck it, I have nothing better to do it seems.
Yes corporations are more efficient by exploiting resources to the last drop, including people (to the extent that the law and the individual allow), no shit Sherlock, that’s kind of the point. But the people are there willingly, many of them could have worked at NASA or any other STEM job but they took the job Musk offered them because he was offering a different experience than what they could have received anywhere else, and of course the promise of future riches. I understand your point of view better than you think, I just reject it because it does not apply universally. Not everyone is coerced into accepting lower pay or working more hours, some people choose that because their job is more important to them than most other things. So yes exploitation of labor happens, but at what can only be described elite level jobs, the employees that choose to be paid below market rate do so out of their choice. These are not people struggling to pay rent, they are making 3 figures most of them if not all of them. A far cry from the cashiers at Walmart.
The thing is that if you look at the way science and technology progresses it ca be boiled down to optimization in the use of energy and resources. Government agencies will never do that because of the way they are incentivized to operate which by the way is not to benefit the people, that’s a naive and utopian view of government, rather they are optimized to never spend less this quarter than last quarter because they get their budget cut if they do. You are deluded if you think a single government official in any country in any government is concerned with “the people” more than they are in their career and the budget they manage. I’ll repeat this, the government is a distinct entity from the people with different incentives and motivations, same as a corporation or an NGO or any other organization. They are all different groups with different goals and motivations and the people are yet another. Each serves themselves and that ‘s how we achieve balance. But I digress, the way incentives are set up for the government is to spend more and more even when there is no logical reason to spend more. Which is why they could not achieve what SpaceX did.
But here’s what crazy about you telling me I’m trolling, or maybe you didn’t read my edit, but I agree with you! NASA has a distinct role in the future which is to dedicate itself to research that might not have obvious commercial application but could benefit humanity in other ways, I used the USPS example: it would be kinda stupid to have USPS make it’s own trucks when it is better at doing logistics which is a task that doesn’t have a commercial upside without becoming so expensive that it hurts most of the population.
I do not know about what original conversation you refer to as my first comment was always about efficiency and cost cutting which is the only thing that will enable mass space exploration, mining and commerce and maybe colonization one day (opening the door for all kinds of human organization schemes and experiments that are no longer possible on earth due to social ossification). For me that was always the goal of NASA, and yes without NASA there would be no SpaceX, just like there would be no NASA without Newton and no Newton without Descartes and so on. No human endeavor is built from the clouds, there’s always a precursor, we can trace anything and everything to our first ancestors if you like and then to the first bacteria life forms.
And yes SpaceX itself will become a bloated, inefficient monster one day, that is the lifecycle of these entities. The argument for free markets (actual free markets not the corporatocratic protectionist nightmare that is the US system) is that a competitor will come about and do the same thing better and take their market from them if they fail to improve themselves. But maybe that doesn’t happen, at that point you will have me right by your side calling for the nationalization of SpaceX, but we are not there yet.
NASA basically pioneered every single piece of modern space technology
Hate to say it, but it was actually the Nazis who pioneered a lot of modern space technology. The US massively refined and improved it - often with the help of "rescued" Nazi scientists.
Le Epic spaceship explosions.
SpaceX: 5
NASA: 1
Dumbass liberals BTFO!!
As rural hospitals shut down (due to lack of federal funding) they are being BOUGHT up by private corporations and LEASED back to the federal government (federal funding).
It's a LOT more money and it's NOT going to the hospital.
starlink has over 150 ground locations (ground satelites that ping service to ones in space, and then down to customer recievers) these locations are easily found by a unofficial map.
their main HQ is in hawthorne, california, a short drive from the LA airport. at 1 rocket road.
do with that information as you will, the ground locations are mostly located all over the US.
Gaza running out of specialised food to save malnourished children
Gaza is on the brink of running out of the specialised therapeutic food needed to save the lives of severely malnourished children, United Nations and humanitarian agencies say.”We are now facing a dire situation, that we are running out of therapeutic supplies,” Salim Oweis, a spokesperson for Unicef in Amman, Jordan, told Reuters on Thursday, saying supplies of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), a crucial treatment, would be depleted by mid-August if nothing changed.
”That’s really dangerous for children as they face hunger and malnutrition at the moment,” he added.
Oweis said Unicef had only enough RUTF left to treat 3,000 children. In the first two weeks of July alone, Unicef treated 5,000 children facing acute malnutrition in Gaza.
Nutrient-dense, high-calorie RUTF supplies, such as high-energy biscuits and peanut paste enriched with milk powder, are critical for treating severe malnutrition.
”Most malnutrition treatment supplies have been consumed and what is left at facilities will run out very soon if not replenished,” a World Health Organization spokesperson said on Thursday.
UK, France and Germany call for immediate end to ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ in Gaza and say Israel must lift aid restrictions – as it happened
Joint statement says: ‘Withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable’Caolán Magee (The Guardian)
What can I do to help? It's absolutely fucked that world governments are just allowing this to happen. The US or France or Germany could literally just roll in with an armed fleet and say that they are there to prevent civilian deaths, any attempts to fire upon, accidentally or on purpose, will be met with such swift and stark retribution that the Devil itself will be jealous of the hellfire achieved that day. Do not fuck with us or you will regret it.
I can only dream. The freedom flotilla tried to sail there to bring food and find a path.
So what can I do?
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Are you American or European? Mailbomb your representative to tell them to stop this Holocaust.
Download Boycat or No Thanks app. Use your consumer power to boycott products that are supporting the genocide and apartheid of Palestinians.
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I am sick and tired of credulous headlines repeating Trump's lies at face value. Trump never for a fucking microsecond actually gave a shit about lower medical bills.
Fuckers use "allegedly"s and reported speech to cast doubt on right-wing crimes and such, but this nonsense gets reported as fact.
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South Park: Creator Trey Parker makes joke apology to Trump over opening episode
South Park co-creator Trey Parker has made a short joke apology to President Donald Trump for ridiculing him in the opening show of their 27th season.
The episode, broadcast on Wednesday, made several jokes at the US president's expense, including depicting him naked in bed with Satan.
After it aired, the White House described South Park as a "fourth-rate" show that was "hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention".
Asked about the reaction during a panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego, Parker said, with a mock-serious face: "We're terribly sorry."
South Park: Creator Trey Parker makes joke apology to Trump over opening episode
The White House said an episode ridiculing Donald Trump was "a desperate attempt for attention".Helen Bushby (BBC News)
Still think they should have just reused the BP oil joke:
Already have the video done and queued up because they knew people would ask at comic con. And just Matt and Trey doing the stereotypical billionaire "we're sorry" while everyone and their mother know none of their actions will ever change
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He just said it once, and it was funny.
But a bespoke compilation would have been fucking hilarious.
Like, it wasn't like a reporter stopped them on the street, they did a comic con panel right after release. It was obviously going to get asked
After it aired, the White House described South Park as a "fourth-rate" show that was "hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention".
Fourth-rate, but Paramount gave them $1.5 billion and only gave you $15 million, so what does that make you?
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How did Matt Stone end up being the hot one? 25 years ago, I’d’ve put money on Trey Parker being the Zaddy.
Crazy
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You know, some of us read this to slow down and fall asleep. The nightmare fuel fomented by whatever orange toadstool exists between that man’s legs is not what I want to think about right now.
Lemmy really is the new Reddit.
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I agree mostly but whats really funny about this episode is the meta around it.
They actually attacked a lot of things in the episode and every joke is actually pretty good
::: spoiler spoiler
Cartman's whole B-Plot is outlining exactly where they are creatively. If it's not controversial to say mean things, then whats the point of Cartman? Making fun of and pissing off Trump is their best chance at comedy right now.
Saddam voice is a great attack because they didn't waste time trying to parody a wannabe middle eastern dictator
Likewise, because South Park Trump IS just Saddam. It is unlikely he will become a liked character like Mr Garrison's Trump parody was
They haven't used the F slur I think since season 13. They took two slurs that you can see people trying to mainstream again and directed them at Trump specifically numerous times.
For the record, I credit SouthPark for removing that word from the Zeitgeist for my friends and me. For a couple of months in 2009 thats what we called Harley riders, and then the joke got stale and with that the word just quit being said by us.
The main punchline of AI Trump naked in the desert is a direct challenge to use the "Take it Down Act"
:::
I like to think that the episode wasn't for fans as much as it was for Trump and team
I think the pay off (whether in real life or in the show itself) will be amusing in the end
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UK, Australia to deepen AUKUS treaty and economic ties
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No evidence Hamas stole Gaza humanitarian aid, USAID report shows
No evidence Hamas stole Gaza humanitarian aid, USAID report shows
An analysis conducted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) found no evidence that Hamas systematically stole US-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza, Reuters reported Friday.FRANCE 24
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Meanwhile there has been videos of Israeli soldiers eating food they stole from UN shipments.
Every accusation is a confession.
I mean....who cares if Hamas steals some of the food? Are we thinking that the few remaining Hamas members are capable of eating it all, or that the war has been so ineffective that they have a huge military force able to eat enough food to feed hundreds of thousands of people's worth of aid?
It's such an obvious excuse to just starve an entire population that it's a huge shame that every journalist and politician doesn't call them out on it. Israel has become a nation that exists in a constant state of cognitive disorder.
The rise and fall of the British cult that hid in plain sight
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Israel ‘racing to wipe out Gaza, eliminate its people’: Heritage minister
Israel’s far-right Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said Thursday that his government is “racing against time to wipe out Gaza and its Palestinian population,” adding that the territory will become “entirely Jewish.”
“The government is racing to wipe out Gaza. We are eliminating this evil. We are eliminating its residents,” Eliyahu told Israel’s Kol Barama radio.
“Gaza will become completely Jewish.”
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The White House wants more states to redraw House maps to help GOP. Democrats are readying a fight
The White House is eyeing redistricting efforts beyond Texas to help Republicans hold the U.S. House in 2026 — and Democrats are preparing to escalate in response, with one senator vowing to go “nuclear” if needed.
What’s shaping up to be a multistate redistricting battle could mark the opening round for House control ahead of next year’s midterms, when Democrats see retaking the House as the party’s best chance to break Republicans’ hold on Congress and President Donald Trump is determined to keep the GOP’s majority. Democrats, under pressure from their base to match GOP tactics, have grown more forceful in their messaging and are taking concrete steps to push back, even as the party enters at a disadvantage.
“If they’re going to go nuclear, then so am I,” said Sen. Elissa Slotkin. “They’re forcing us into this position because they’re trying to pick their voters.”
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Our supreme court in ohio ruled the state drawn districts were illegal 3 times in 2021-2022, but nothing was done about it and the illegal maps were used in the elections.
Also it's completely unrelated that the governor's son is a supreme court justice.
but you don't stop corruption with equal and opposite corruption.
This is why we will always be at a disadvantage.
Redraw California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, and Oregon districts to overwhelm the handful of Republican districts there.
Then
Take full advantage of the fact that the R's are pushing a very unpopular agenda and will have to weaken their advantages in red districts (making them a bit swingier) in order to get rid of blue districts.
This and many other actions lead me to believe that the US is never getting rid of this administration. They've deleted all safety mechanisms and all possible checks and balances, of course in their favor.
Even if you get elections, I doubt the results matter.
As Stalin once famously said "I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how."
How about calling for and organizing a nation wide general strike????
Oh right, that would hurt their billionaire donors and actually accomplish things for the working class.
They act like they have no power but hand wringing. But that's because that's all they choose to do.
Democrats are where they are because they like following rules.
Nnnnnoooo, they follow the rules because they're the rules. If it's just total anarchy you want, any political party won't scratch that itch.
snekerpimp
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Rhaedas
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in reply to Tony Bark • • •Wonder how he came to know so many dirtbags! Birds of a feather?
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