Hyperreality

@Hyperreality@kbin.social
0 Post – 1245 Comments
Joined 1 years ago

Then when they're 15, they can rape them, but marry them when they get pregnant (because plenty of conservatives support that), they won't be able to abort their rapists child, and with a bit of luck the GOP will also make divorce harder (that's also something they want) so that their young wives will never be able to escape them and because conservatives will ensure marital rape continues to go unpunished.

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He's lying about having to be there. He's also lying about it distracting from the campaign. Him being at the trial is part of the campaign. Him saying it's distracting from the campaign, is also part of the campaign.

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Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective wage agreement

I'm sorry, what?

Arrogance, ignorance and hubris.

It's a typical story at this point. American company comes to Europe, doesn't do its research, doesn't know how these things work over here, management in the US refuses to adapt, few years down the line they fuck off with their tail between their legs.

Staggeringly incompetent.

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I assume the Satanic Temple is the non-theist one, which doesn't actually believe in Satan, and just uses it to troll religious nutjobs.

It's a pity the Christian right are invariably functionally illiterate, or they would have known to not kick themselves in the dick.

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I strongly suspect that if he'd admitted he'd made a mistake, said it happened in the heat of the moment because he was so excited at their achievement, earnestly apologised, and perhaps offered to do some training, take a break or donate some money this would have all gone away.

But no, the moron doubled down. Macho morons.

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“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

John F. Kennedy, 1962

I find it interesting how much western countries have individualised the causes of sadness.

It's not that strange that people are often sick in a sick society. If you're depressed, it's likely that there are things that are causing or exacerbating that depression.

Give people homes, job security, less stressful jobs, and offer them a healthy work-life balance? Far easier to deal with and possibly even heal from trauma or serious health issues.

But that costs money. Selling people pills and self-help books? That makes money.

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“we have lots of requests to interview Putin, he just doesn’t want to do it”

Because they're actual journalists who would ask serious questions.

The fact that no one was hurt does not mean the case gets dismissed,” Engoron said

It's also not a fact that he hurt no one. His lies hurt banks and lenders (small violin noise), consumers and tax payers.

They did.

They now rent them through a monthly paid subscription.

Oh, great. Vulnerable children and desperate parents searching for prescription medication on the black market. What could go wrong?

Mission accomplished.

  • Get a cheap subscription to a 24h fitness with warm showers, lockers and wifi.
  • Combine with a library card.

This will allow you to live in your car or be homeless, in relative(!!!) comfort, and still be presentable enough to hold down a job.

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Chinese EVs are being sold at a loss of up to 35k per car:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/05/business/nio-china-electric-vehicles.html

The Chinese government is subsidising their car industry, so they can engage in dumping, and decimate our car industries. When our domestic car industries are dead, they'll raise prices. It's like Amazon or any other scummy megacorp that kills local businesses.

This being said, it's hard to feel sorry for companies who also receive plenty of government subsidies and tax breaks, broke the law on emissions testing and likely killed a lot of people because of it, and refused to innovate or lower prices out of sheer greed.

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Given there's suggestions he has Parkinson's or has dementia, it might also be the medication. Something like haldol, even in low doses, will make him sleepy.

TBF he's old. I had trouble staying awake in class when I was in my teens and twenties. No surprise an old man has similar issues during a long day in court.

Perhaps if he hadn't gone around calling his opponent 'sleepy' for years on end, people would have been more charitable and assumed he'd simply slept poorly.

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He's wearing rubber flipflops. He'll be fine.

Manufacturers are joining the era of disposable cars.

Consumers are joining the era of disposing of cars.

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She no longer has a career with mainstream studios.

Fascist bullshit is her career now. I assume she has another wackadoodle movie coming out soon. Or maybe she's the next mother of Elon's soon to be estranged children.

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He will allow the USA to become much more independent and cut off paying for other nations' wars. He will allow the USA to become much more independent and cut off paying for other nations' wars.

Kowtowing to countries like China and Russia, allowing them to win strategic victories, will make them more powerful and give them more influence on US politics. Ie. the US would become less independent.

You don't become more independent by telling countries like China that you give up.

In the case of Ukraine, they're one of the world's top exporters of grain, which is in part why food prices have been rising globally.

We don't need the rest of the world.

You do. The world has globalised. At least 40 million American jobs are directly reliant on exports. The rest of the world also produces stuff like oil. Fuel prices would skyrocket.

A lot of unprofitable stuff has also been moved overseas. It would cost money to make it in the US. Many resources are also rare in the US. Stuff like rare-earth elements. Good luck importing from countries which have signed deals with China, because they're the new super power. Combined with de-dollarisation this would also cause massive issues, rampant inflation for example. You think it's bad now? You ain't seen nothing yet.

Our military can stomp out any invaders.

No one needs to invade the US. It's cheaper to simply buy a candidate or blackmail him. This allows countries like China to push through legislation which favours their business and strategic interests. Eg. dropping support for Ukraine or dropping support of Taiwan so that China can take control of advance chip industries.

In the long term, the US would find it hard to sustain a huge military budget when facing economic turmoil and a debt crisis. Especially in relative terms. China has a population of 1.4 billion. If the US withdraws from the Asia-Pacific and Europe, they're likely to become part of the Chinese sphere of influence. A country of 300 million, will inevitably be pushed around by a power bloc of 3 billion.

Of course, none of this will convince a Trump supporter, because most base their support on emotions not reason. And once they find they can't afford to fill up on gas, or groceries, they'll blame anyone but themselves.

You're joking, but a pro-tip: don't talk (too much) about this kind of stuff when you're romantically interested in someone. Make the first dates or ecounters with someone a positive experience, rather than ersatz therapy.

It's a mistake too many (lonely) men fall into when they feel a connection to someone new or also in longterm relationships.

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I suppose that’s a hazard when you rent your office space from fascists: if you later go against fascism even a little bit

You fundamentally misunderstand fascism.

Reminds me of a story I read visiting a war museum in Germany. After the first world war, German veterans were treated badly. They were blamed for the loss. So this guy in Dresden starts a charity to help them. Gains a lot of support. Becomes popular. Then the nazis come along. They promise to help veterans and are popular with veterans. So like many veterans, this guy joins the nazi party. Loyal supporter from the early days. True believer. Raises money for them. Continues to do charity work and supports the nazi party. Does his bit and helps them gain power and win the elections locally.

So they killed him and burn down the headquarters of his charity. Because loyalty is not enough.

Fascists hold those beneath them in contempt. They are chauvinists who hate the weak. They despise their followers, because they are loyal and perceive this as weakness. Because they allowed themselves to be subjugated by the leader.

You know who hates Donald Trump's supporters the most? Donald Trump. NYT:

Mr. Trump said in a task force meeting that one benefit of the pandemic was that he no longer would have to shake hands with his supporters. “I don’t like shaking hands with people,” Ms. Troye quoted Mr. Trump as saying. “I don’t have to shake hands with these disgusting people.” ... "Oh, he talked all the time about the people themselves being disgusting,” Ms. Troye told me in an interview on Friday. “It was clear immediately that he wanted nothing to do with them.” ...

The whole fascist enterprise is a sado-masochistic pyramid. People licking the boot in adoration, who get to put the boot on those below them in the pyramid, and despise those below them in the pyramid.

Oh. Is it time for that Sartre quote again?

“Never believe that [they] are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. [They] have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

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"the US also bombs civilians to take out military targets"

Not wrong though.

IRC the initial shock and awe coordinated 'surgical' bombing at the beginning of the 2003 Iraq war cost the lives of up to 8000 Iraqi civilians. I remember watching it at the time, and American media were really gushing about that whole thing. Going on about how precise it all was. Apparently if you dress it all up in a bit of newspeak (collateral damage, precision bombing, surgical strike, ...) you can convince most people that the pressure wave from a large bomb stops at the window of a building.

Maybe international law is too lax. Maybe the US is too powerful to face consequences for anything but the most egregious examples, but then again it's not as if the world (including the middle-east) gives much of a shit when Assad barrel bombs yet another a hospital. And no one gives a shit about the thousands who died in Sudan this year, because they're black, so they apparently don't count.

In a deeply cynical way, it makes sense that the IDF and Israel think it's unfair. Why should they get so much flack for war crimes, when others get away with it consequence free? China got to demolish ten thousand or more mosques, Russia got to demolish multiple cities and deliberately murder sheltering children, it's only fair that Israel gets to commit a bit of genocide.

I'm old and tired, and please understand this is an angry and sarcastic comment, but I do wonder what people think war is actually like. Especially urban warfare. Because given history, it seems to me that this is what it's always like. Thousands of dead civilians, razed buildings, and flimsy excuses and technicalities which allow countries to get away with (not so) accidentally murdering thousands. The world's biggest and least funny joke.

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I dunno, I think the redesign is a significant improvement:

https://i.imgur.com/G1hINqY.png

Far less annoying than the old design.

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To be fair, having sex with women is pretty gay. They're girly, weak and smell nice.

Nothing more masculine than two smelly men fucking each other in the arse. Dominating this guy who's just as strong if not stronger than you, then enduring the pain of Big Jim's rod penetrating you, because you're a manly man who's made of tougher stuff.

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Sounds like it's time for that Sartre quote again:

“Never believe that [they] are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. [They] have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert.”

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Lots of employers don't verify at all, especially for low level stuff.

Companies are also unlikely to provide much more than the start and end date of employment. No point taking any risks, no benefit from warning another company.

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Given their videos were so highly ranked, the prevalence of coercion in the industry, and the fact that it's often impossible to tell if someone's been threatened behind the scenes, it's highly likely that most people reading this who have watched porn online have also watched plenty of videos of actual rapes.

This is a simple fact, but one which a lot of people would rather deny, rather than admit their part in perpetuating it, while wondering why watching porn makes them sad. Partly, I suspect, because deep down they know the truth of it.

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Auto-replied with a poop emoji probably. That's a thing the twitter press office does apparently.

In Musk's defense, it would be hilarious if twitter's response to the EU, the German authorities and others is a poop emoji, and this is the final straw that results in the EU handing out the maximum fine of 300 million dollars, and Germany handing out the potential maximum fine of 30 billion euros under NetzDG legislation for the 600 cases that had been reported by april.

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Here's a list of ongoing wars:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_ongoing\_armed\_conflicts

You can decide which ones to care about.

According to current death toll, Ukraine is currently the worst, but the news media and audiences are bored of it.

Sudan are the wrong colour.

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Fun fact: Incense was historically used for funerary purposes. It hides the smell of decaying bodies. It's also used in some churches, pilgrims can be very smelly. The egyptians used frankincense for mummification.

The smell is probably from the sewer btw. It's possible the water level in one of the sinks or toilets is too low, but your grandfather doesn't notice the smell anymore. It may be enough to simply run the taps a bit.

Or your grandpa murdered someone and hid them under the floorboards.

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This quote is annoyingly relevant to this day:

“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

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I find it depressing that not wanting migrants to drown, is framed as 'support for migrants' and somehow left wing.

If a suspected rapist was drowning in a pond, I'd expect the police to save them, then jail them. Leaving people to die without any right to a trial or to be heard, is simply sociopathic.

It's perfectly possible to have a hardline anti-migration policy, which doesn't involve allowing thousands of people to drown.

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Both. People would do well to read Hareetz, Israel's newspaper of record, which is also available in English.

It's hard to accuse it of being anti-semitic. Reading Israeli perspectives, also demolishes the argument that all Israelis don't care about Palestinian suffering or unconditionally support what comes next.

These are some of the opinion pieces they have on their site now:

These were human beings whom Israel dispossessed and expelled, whom it conquered again in their land of refuge and then turned into animals in a cage. They’ve experienced indiscriminate bombardments before, but now the worst of all is ahead of them. Israel has already announced that all the restraints it supposedly used in previous attacks will be lifted this time. Yes, hundreds of Gazans committed atrocious crimes, an outgrowth of 17 years of blockade and 75 years of suffering, with a bloody past and no present or future. But not all of a Gaza is to blame.

This:

Consequently, this needs to be said: Israel has held millions of people under a brutal blockade for more than 15 years with the support of the entire Western world. That is inhumane and inconceivable, and every solution to this bloody conflict ultimately includes respecting the rights of all people, both in Gaza and Sderot, to live with security and human dignity. And that begins with respecting the most basic rules as set down in the international laws of war, which are designed to reduce the harm to civilians.

Or this:

Ironically, those who cheer Hamas's deeds, believing they're advancing the Palestinian agenda, are inadvertently supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's long-term strategy: the existence of Hamas ensures there will be no Palestinian state. More so, it eliminates any chance of dialogue, especially with Palestinians and Israelis already committed to end the occupation.

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He has a young daughter. Poor daughter having such a shit father.

Honestly, she's probably better off without this failure of a human being in her life.

Like the Snoop Dogg case, I assume this will also be dropped sooner rather than later.

It's very hard to prosecute these historical cases, and going against someone this famous is doubly horrific for the victims, so I doubt he'll ever see justice.

Hope she at least gets a payout. And that 50 cent goes ahead with his documentary about it all, so the guy is thoroughly shunned for the rest of his life.

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The victims are the wrong colour, the perpetrators are the wrong religion, the west is distracted, Africans aren't great fans of former colonial powers getting involved in their former colonies, and it's in the Russian/Chinese sphere of influence.

Although the root causes of the conflict are domestic, Russia's working on building a naval base there, there's evidence of Wagner involvement, and according to some media Russia is using Sudanese gold to help fund the war in Ukraine. Which probably doesn't help or give the Russians much of a motive to weaponise the conflict for propaganda purposes, unlike other conflicts.

Former Time Person of the Year, America's Mayor, and someone who once stood a realistic chance of becoming president.

What a fall from grace.

If only he'd retired at 65.

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Of course not. Cyberpunk and tech noir usually isn't just about the future, it's arguably about now. More generally, science fiction is often used as a 'safe' way to criticise existing society or say what can't otherwise be said.

Prime example: Tarkovski's science fiction films (Stalker, Solaris, ...), which smuggled very religious themes past the soviet censor, because 'it's only science fiction'.

Make a movie glorifying terrorism? Likely jail sentence and on a list. Make a movie glorifying a terrorist that blows up parliament in a dystopian future? Cult classic.

Make a movie which compares American nationalism to the nazis? You'll never work in Hollywood again. Make it about humans fighting space aliens? Would you like to know more?

Make a movie about how capitalists indoctrinate us all via advertising? You filthy communist! Make a movie about how aliens indoctrinate us all via advertising? They Live, John Carpenter, cult classic.

Make a movie about transitioning? No thanks. Make a movie about freeing yourself from the Matrix with the help of a red pill which looks a lot like the hormone pills the directors used to transition? Become a millionaire.

Make a tv episode where one of the main cast has a sexual relationship with a trans character, who is later forced to undergo gender reaffirming therapy in 1992? Impossible. Make it about Riker having a relationship with an alien who's not androgynous because her race finds gender weird? Prime time tv.

Make a tv programme about the guilt of a Nazi who worked in a camp while the Jews were being exterminated? No way that's happening. Make a tv programme about the guilt of a space alien who worked in a camp while other space aliens were being exterminated? That particular Star Trek episode was broadcast in prime time, to wide acclaim.

For this reason, and on a related note, anyone who complains about a science fiction show or movie being 'too political' is more often than not a moron and/or disingenious.

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The world is really lucky that China's not doing that great at the moment. Not so long ago, China was winning the propaganda war internationally.

You don't want authoritarianism to win the argument by out-performing democracies.

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