hotspur
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hotspur@lemmy.mlto politics @lemmy.world•The End of College Life | If they persist, Donald Trump’s attacks on universities will destroy a cornerstone of American life.515·5 months agoI’d imagine for the same reasons that people study the past and try and understand how events unfold. People still mention the name Chamberlain when discussing the rise of the third reich for instance.
When Snowden released his collection of files way back when, he made the argument that the panopticon that was being built wasn’t being used in the worst way at the time of his decision to whistleblow. But his point was that the construction of such tools could not be justified based on their eventual use by a worse form of American govt.
When the liberal mainstream—and this includes Biden, major media, and most other center/center-left politicians and pundits over the last year and a half—presided over the framing of anti-semitism as the act of being critical of Israeli govt actions and supported that govt in a year long punishment campaign to destroy an ethnic group, they normalized the positions that are now being used to deport green card holders and leverage higher ed into submission. Free speech on this issue was fought over last year, and generally, the anti-free speech side won.
It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re worse, or even equal in vileness to the current admin, but it is a point worth recognizing. Enshrining Trump, as horrid as he is, as an exception may be comforting, but it removes the broader narrative that brought our present about. If we don’t work to understand this sequence with clear eyed judgment, our resistance to it will likely fail.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto politics @lemmy.world•The End of College Life | If they persist, Donald Trump’s attacks on universities will destroy a cornerstone of American life.118·5 months ago“Scientist” as a general concept doesn’t have an inherent positive or negative value. Some scientists have invented things that saved lives or expanded our understanding of the universe. Others experimented on prisoners, or developed addicting drugs for big pharma. Personally I’d say scientists are more likely to resemble the first, not the second, but what defines the value is not the profession, but the actions they take as individuals.
His comment appeared to describe the issues with approval of scientists as a baseline, when the capitalist system they’re trapped within has other incentives and agendas. It’s a point one can certainly disagree with, but it is a coherent argument.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto politics @lemmy.world•The End of College Life | If they persist, Donald Trump’s attacks on universities will destroy a cornerstone of American life.313·5 months agoIf one cannot learn from history, it will repeat. The actions that led to this moment are important to understand if one wants to be able to counter them and avoid them in the future.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto News@lemmy.world•Delta plane and Air Force jet face collision close call outside DCA airport : NPR3·5 months agoWhat’s sort of eerie though is that DCA has been having lots of these TCAS alerts If you consider multiple TCAS alert incidents, as well as the in-air collision that happened, it’s an unsettling pattern developing at DCA.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto politics @lemmy.world•Trump pardons Nikola founder Trevor Milton in securities fraud case4·5 months agoYeah ok, so similar MO to the other pay in and get your case squashed schemes that trump has been running. The corruption dial has really been turned to 11 I guess.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto politics @lemmy.world•Trump pardons Nikola founder Trevor Milton in securities fraud case10·5 months agoSo, did this guy also buy millions of world liberty financial governance coins?
hotspur@lemmy.mlto politics @lemmy.world•Kamala Harris Picked as Democrats’ Runaway 2028 Favorite in New Poll25·5 months agoA.) this is a joke right? B.) amusing they think there’s gonna be a viable election in 2028
So yeah this sounds like a useful and relatively cheap and simple way to get another good indicator. But I’m a little confused also, because I thought that for the most part, these funeral directors and facilities produce death certificates for each person that they handle, so I had assumed that this data was already being collected or was collectible.
For instance many of these processes are set up to avoid “fraud” so they’re almost automated once a death certificate exists—thinking for example social security maintaining a death list and getting automatically transmitted notices of death, etc.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto politics @lemmy.world•Trump Says a Recession Might Be Worth the Cost. Economists Disagree.61·5 months agoUh huh, but worth it to who? So far all we’ve heard is some vague existential nonsense about how they have to implode the economy in order to save the economy. Based on the messaging I’ve heard all my life, “stagflation”is one of the least desirable economic modes to have under capitalism.
If we believe that the democrats didn’t properly recognize or hear the very real economic anxiety that Americans felt prior to the election, and that that disconnect in part contributed to their failure, I think we might also assume that Americans as a whole will not simply “take his word for it” that they should become homeless in order to drive crypto prices up.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto politics @lemmy.world•Elon Musk’s DOGE is growing desperate for a “win”13·6 months agoWhen they were selling DOGE during the campaign, the pitch was they’d have a year or something to do their thing. The EO might have it spelled out can’t recall. But they also said they would just be an advisory group? Not insider threat hackers and political commissars at the top of every agency. Not sure why they are sweating a time limit since they dont care about any other law, regulation or protocol. I guess if they don’t deliver enough, Trump won’t do another EO extending their presence? They’re literally reworking agency stuff so that the DOGE staff have to sign off on commissioners actions, hiring etc so are they just going to revert that once the clock strikes midnight for DOGE?
I suppose the idea is that the admin wants to lock in all the creepy shit from project 2025 prior to mid terms since they know that all of it will end up being wildly unpopular and will result in republican losses in congress and potentially gridlock from that point forward… but again, their playbook essentially calls for the end of democracy, so why are they sweating something like the midterms…
hotspur@lemmy.mlto politics @lemmy.world•Social Security: Bernie Sanders issues dire warning about Elon Musk's plan46·6 months agoThat’s not how they’re doing it. They’re just slashing anything they don’t understand, entire departments. There are many interdependent systems and each uncalibrated attack brings them closer to failure/disruption.
There is no careful analysis about “people not doing their jobs” going on here.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto Technology@lemmy.world•Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)English5·6 months agoYeah honestly after the first couple I was like, crap I’ve been missing out. You can tell they’re legit because the website looks like forum websites I used to frequent in the early 00s (sounds like a dig, but I swear it’s not, the modern web is damn awful to read most of the time).
hotspur@lemmy.mlto Technology@lemmy.world•Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)English7·6 months agoI have been finding myself suddenly saving techdirt articles for my reading list day after day, and I guess now I know why. Not to say I wasn’t interested before, but they’ve been providing analysis and commentary lately that has just hit different/ has been scratching a particular itch. Please, keep that train rolling.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto politics @lemmy.world•FBI and Red Cross headquarters are among more than 440 federal buildings listed for potential sale by Trump administration12·6 months agoPrivate equity has arrived for the federal govt.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto News@lemmy.world•Vice President JD Vance describes Britain as ‘some random country’16·6 months agoYeah this has been what I’m wondering lately. Clearly Thiel can’t be super in love with Elon since they ousted him from PayPal while he was on his honeymoon… but if he’s a useful idiot that can take the attnetion and heat, when everything implodes it’ll be on Musk and then Trump, and then Vance, who has been higher profile as VP than most, can try and worm his way in there and voila, Thiel has got what he wants. Vance is pretty off putting to most people though, which seems like bad judgement on his handlers part if they want a pseudo-legit govt CEO… but then the handlers are also super off putting in real life and clearly live in a alternate reality/bubble so maybe it’s not that far fetched.
hotspur@lemmy.mlto News@lemmy.world•Vice President JD Vance is skiing in Vermont, and the locals have opinions about that10·6 months agoThis makes me wonder: when someone like this goes on a ski vacation… does that mean that a bunch of his secrect service detail has to also ski / be able to ski competently?
hotspur@lemmy.mlto News@lemmy.world•FDA Begins to Rescind Firings, Call Employees Back to Work...21·6 months agoYeah that would make sense why I unintentionally oneself on it so often. I almost always hit back or close when I end up there (usually because I click on a link that is interesting to me without interrogating the URL very closely, bad opsec I know)
I mean the guys already making this joke himself right? So you’re just laughing along with him. Unless you made the T-shirt text for the meme, and even still, he’d probably chuckle at it if that were the case.