WoodScientist

joined 5 months ago
sorted by: new top controversial old
To those in countries where democracy might last another election - **harm reduction is not optional** in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 2 points 21 minutes ago

False analogy. The actual choice was had in 2024 was "drive of the cliff at 40 mph, or drive off a cliff at 38 mph."

To those in countries where democracy might last another election - **harm reduction is not optional** in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 minutes ago

Not really. Historically, whenever there is an authoritarian takeover like this, it is never the centrist left party that actually stands up to them and kicks them out of power. You have to let that corrupt party burn completely. Only then is there free space in the landscape to allow the formation of a party that actually has any desire to stand up to authoritarianism. Democrats don't fight fascism; they build moats and walls around fascism to protect it.

To those in countries where democracy might last another election - **harm reduction is not optional** in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 3 points 24 minutes ago (1 children)

The Democratic Party has literally gone to court and won rulings arguing that they don't have to follow their own rules or primary processes. They're a private club, and they are free to put their thumb on the scale whenever and however they please. Those doing the most to change the Democratic Party are completely bypassing the party and organizing through external organizations. The Democratic Party will demand that you spend decades canvassing and working in the trenches before making any meaningful contribution. And they will only allow the most craven and corrupt to have any real seat at the table. You only get to climb the Democratic party structure if you tow the party line.

To those in countries where democracy might last another election - **harm reduction is not optional** in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 4 points 30 minutes ago

Yeah the downvotes you're getting really illustrate the three monkeys approach of centrists. Outright denial not only of opinions, but objective facts. Trump immigration policy is just Biden's turned up a notch, but with a lot of performative cruelty thrown in. Biden's immigration policy is just Trump's turned down a notch, with less performative cruelty. Trump vice signals, Biden virtue signaled. But their actual policies on immigration are very very similar.

To those in countries where democracy might last another election - **harm reduction is not optional** in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 3 points 35 minutes ago (2 children)

Except the two choices are never "ice cream and driving off a cliff." The options are "drive off a cliff at the speed limit" and "drive off a cliff full speed." If you demand the choice to not vote for a cliff diving, then it's your fault we're driving off a cliff.

‘Oh My God!’ CNN’s Data Guru Stunned By Democrats’ 70-Point Shift on Israel in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 3 points 14 hours ago

A tale as old as time. The abused grow up to become the abusers.

‘Oh My God!’ CNN’s Data Guru Stunned By Democrats’ 70-Point Shift on Israel in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Honestly, I'm not even sure it's just the funding. Israel has the Mossad, famously one of the most effective and ruthless intelligence agencies on the planet. Is it really hard to imagine they simply have damning blackmail material on many of the political leaders of both parties? The carrot is the AIPAC money. The stick is the Mossad and its tools. Hell, for a particularly troublesome lawmaker, would they even be above resorting to assassination? Look at how many innocent people they're willing to kill to get one Hamas or Iranian military leader. If they thought killing a US House member of Senator was necessary to keep US support, do you really think they would be above that? I certainly don't. And I don't think they would be above subtly pointing that out to US lawmakers.

The Israelis are masters at assassinating foreign leaders. They mostly apply that to their enemies, but if they're convinced a US lawmaker is their enemy, there's no reason to suspect they would be above killing US leaders as well. I honestly believe that many US leaders support Israel in part out of a genuine fear for their physical safety. The killing of a US leader would likely be done quietly, rather than a bomb dropped on someone's house. But I have zero doubt that Israel makes credible death threats against US leaders.

Genius in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 5 points 19 hours ago

Yeah....this is the kind of person that the mob was most useful for back in the day. This was the kind of guy that got his knees broken for being a wise guy.

Alan Dershowitz Says, ‘If You Want to Destroy Hamas, You Have to Kill the Civilians’ During Tense Piers Morgan Debate in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 6 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Well, the vast vast majority of Hamas fighters are what a regular military would classify as "reservists." Hamas are mostly part-time fighters who otherwise have regular civilian jobs and live regular civilian lives. (Or at least they did before the Gaza strip was blown to rubble.)

Such a welcoming community in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago

A doctor involved in some of the experimental uterus transplants in cis women has written a paper on it and believes the barriers to such a transplant are surmountable. However, good luck getting funding for such a thing in today's world. We can't even convince people to not let trans kids die from lack of healthcare. Uterus transplants aren't even in the same universe as us right now.

Alan Dershowitz Says, ‘If You Want to Destroy Hamas, You Have to Kill the Civilians’ During Tense Piers Morgan Debate in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 14 points 23 hours ago (5 children)

It's actually a lot worse. The IDF has a much, much higher rate of civilians killed for every noncombatant than Hamas does. Hamas is objectively better at avoiding civilian casualties than the IDF is.

Looking for work? Need a job with good pay and benefits? Have any sense of ethics? ICE is hiring and has low standards. Sign up for ICE and be the most incompetent agent in history. in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

You're ascribing more competence to these people than they deserve. They're not omniscient. And trawling social media only gets you so much. Hell, you can tell them you're generally liberal but opposed to illegal immigration if you really want. Yes, the Trump admin has some pretty extensive social media search capability, but that's for their upper level cabinet officials. They just can't afford to be that picky for the type of low-level position I'm talking about. ICE has expanded by leaps and bounds, way beyond any ability for them to properly screen applicants.

166
Looking for work? Need a job with good pay and benefits? Have any sense of ethics? ICE is hiring and has low standards. Sign up for ICE and be the most incompetent agent in history. (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
29 comments fedilink
 

Need a new gig? Looking for a job with good pay and benefits that's easy to get? Don't need employment for more than a few months? Well ICE is hiring! And they're so desperate for people that their standards have been lowered all the way to the seventh circle of Hell.

So throw in an application and sign up for ICE. Then proceed to be the most incompetent agent in ICE's history. Show up late. Show up high. Arrive to raids late and out of uniform. Brag about your upcoming raids on social media. Just generally be the most unproductive, unhelpful, and incompetent ICE employee in history. Write elaborate equipment check lists and spend hours triple checking your load out before any raid. Be a net drain on the system. Have your incompetence be so great that your very presence actually zeros out the work of at least two other people. Become a black hole of unproductivity that drains the effectiveness and morale of everyone around you. Be the Colin Robinson of ICE!

They're so desperate for people right now, that they'll be extremely reluctant to fire you as long as you don't go full direct insubordination. If you refuse to follow orders, you'll get fired. If you're just colossally incompetent at carrying those orders out, you should get at least a few months of employment before they finally let you go.

"Oops, sorry boss, I was going to the bathroom during that last raid, didn't see anything. Shouldn't have had that burrito last night."

"Oops, I'm so clumsy. I left the door to the van open, and all the migrants we caught got away. Again!"

"What do you mean I can't refer to my coworkers by name when we're all masked up. That's just impolite!"

"Look, I thought I had the right address. How was I to know that address was actually the local Republican Party campaign office?"

62
How would the world be different if human lifespans remained the same, but cats lived for a thousand years? (sh.itjust.works)
73
At the time of its founding, the United States was a timocracy. (en.wikipedia.org)
24
The United States was founded as a timocracy. (en.wikipedia.org)
62
Stretching Catholic doctrine to argue for literal prayers to St. Luigi. (sh.itjust.works)
 

So this is a fun thought exercise. Here I dig into my Catholic upbringing and try to make a stretched doctrinal case for why literally praying to St. Luigi might just actually make sense from a religious perspective. I'm no longer a practicing Catholic myself, so take it as you will. This is just me trying to stretch doctrine to see if I can argue that praying to a literal St. Luigi may actually be doctrinally viable.

Inquiring minds want to know. If one wishes to take things too far and take the "St. Luigi" thing literally, how can that be possible? Can you really pray to a saint for divine intervention, when that saint is clearly still a mortal man walking among the living?

First, on saints. There are official saints of the Church, but technically those are just the ones that the Church has decided that beyond any reasonable doubt are actually in Heaven. But according to doctrine, there are likely millions of saints, people that have reached Paradise and can intercede on mortal behalf. We've only had enough evidence, such as repeated miracles, to provide enough evidence for the official list. And the canonization process involves miracles attributed to unofficial saints. Usually someone will pray to someone that isn't on the official list, and when they receive some purported miracle, such as an unlikely cancer recovery, that is attributed as a miracle to that unofficial saint. In fact, the only way someone can become an official saint is if people pray to them while they are an unofficial one.

So, that's how one might pray to St. Luigi, even though he isn't a recognized saint. But what about mortality? The man is clearly not in Heaven right now, he's sitting in jail. How can one possibly pray to a living man for divine intervention?

But here's where the doctrinal loophole comes in! You see, technically, Heaven exists outside of time and space. Time need not work the same way there it does here. If the spirit of a saint can reach beyond the bounds of the universe to intercede on mortal behalf, they can also reach across time as well. Heaven exists outside of space and time.

So if one prays to St. Luigi, you are not actually praying to the mortal man sitting in a jail in New York. Rather, you are praying to his ascended soul, which has the ability to intercede both forwards and backwards in time. Maybe Luigi will be executed. Maybe he'll live a long life and die of old age. But when he does, he will ascend to Paradise and become a saint. And he can then answer prayers from anyone, in any place, in any time.

So yeah, if that's your thing, doctrinally, a case can be made that it is perfectly fine to pray to a literal St. Luigi!

78
The Guinness World Record for the largest private collection of fossilized dinosaur shit. (www.youtube.com)
view more: next ›