theparadox

USA here. They'd likely consider this to be extremely patronizing, but I consider most conservative voters to be unaware of what it is they are actually preaching. It's crazy but the more extreme their views get, the more I'm convinced they're misinformed and misled. Some folks at the top of their pyramid I legitimately hate - I have no doubt they know exactly what they are doing.

So many of conservative beliefs just fly in the face of reality. I hate that they're perpetuating the harm that the beliefs and resulting policies cause, but seeing as how they are mostly based on clear and obvious lies, I have to assume that most of the supporters just don't realize they are being lied to and have invested emotionally in an identity that actively harms their own interests.

Honestly, this is what I consider to be the clear danger of generative "AI". We've basically gone several steps backward toward a world where we can't prove something happened because recording technology doesn't exist because it can be faked well enough and easily enough to cast doubt on any recording.

Sure, experts can analyze it and deem it legit or not legit but for the average person its becoming harder and harder to tell. Word spreads fast, and it's been demonstrated that lies spread faster than their corrections by orders of magnitude. All it takes is for something to "go viral" or someone with authority to lazily confirm or deny that something is real/fake and the public at large loses touch with reality.

This plus the insane misinformation campaigns and those that cry "fake news" whenever the news contains information they don't like... I feel like truth and reality are becoming unfashionable.

Or people could just be upset that cops of any color feel justified in using tasers when civilians don't comply with unusual, unnecessary requests. I don't care what color the band director is or what color the cops are. I'm continually disgusted at how many videos there are of cops losing their shit when a civilian doesn't immediately respond "how high?".

I am just destroyed by this. I genuinely had a little faith in humanity that people wouldn't fall for this bullshit but I guess I sorely was mistaken.

Laitmer is a conservative, racist piece of shit who is going to take over Manchin's job of fucking things up for progressives. Fucking hell this sucks.

To top it off, Israel just successfully dropped a political nuke on a critic and will likely have everyone running scared in the future.

City officials said 29% of the 112 people arrested at a protest at Columbia on Tuesday were not affiliated with the school. At the City College protest, 60% of the 170 arrested were not affiliated with the school, according to the city's press release.

"Not students" isn't as informative as "not affiliated with the school".

In that light, the numbers reported are much different between the two colleges and the headline should reflect that.

If Democrats follow that playbook it only legitimizes it, giving a future Republican administration the green light to do it as well.

I 100% agree in spirit. However...

giving a future Republican administration the green light to do it

One of the many problems with American politics is that the Republicans do not need legitimacy or a green light. They'll fucking do it anyway. They'll also cry foul if they catch a whiff of a democrat thinking about doing it. Or they'll just accuse a democrat of doing it and they'll just use that as justification for doing it first.

They know their policies are wildly unpopular and that they won't even be able to maintain power by illegitimate minority rule, which they have been doing for decades now.

It's grab power now or regroup and accept that they've lost the culture war. They are not going to go quietly, as recent events and Project 2025 has made crystal clear.

I would argue 50% is low-balling the percentage of people they don't give a shit about.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_wage

Is it an oven? 👍 Is it a microwave oven? 👍 Is it a countertop microwave oven? 👍 Can it grill food? 👍 Is it a grill microwave oven? - exceeded the question limit, big reveal, answer was "microwave". Interesting but I wasted a lot of questions trying to determine what kind of microwave it was because "microwave oven" was not accepted.

Allegedly, British strikers in the 40's, maybe earlier. The phrase itself is older. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACAB

Might have been used by any number of groups upset with police. It's anti police.

Why are you trying to associate it with racist skinheads?

Sadly, old Google doesn't work either thanks to the efforts of SEO and the AI generated garbage.

The problem with search is that the motives of those being searched aren't to provide you with the most helpful answer. The motives are to get you to visit their website then stay/click/buy as much as possible. They'll tailor their content to match whatever algorithm the engine is using.

That's why Google's new plan is to collect all of the information ahead of time and skip the "visit other websites" step. Then you can stay/click/buy on their website as much as possible.

Seriously though. Just skip all this nonsense, you selfish piece of shit, and open your wallet so the hungry corpos can feast on its contents - they have poor, innocent, starving shareholders to feed... you monster.

Maybe if Israel indiscriminately bombs some more civilians Hamas will change their mind and start dancing?

That's actually something that's likely already happening, assuming they manage to even achieve that.

I guarantee there are tons of potential geniuses born that are never afforded the chance to develop or even demonstrate their abilities... and when they do, aren't recognized. Either because they are from the dirty poors and/or the Moneybags family can just leverage their resources to ensure their kids get the opportunity or recognition instead.

If you don't believe in fairness or equality, the potential benefits to yourself by way of improvements to society from geniuses should motivate you.

I'm so tired of the pattern of a well balanced society flourishing and then a few selfish fuckwads hoard resources and starve their society back into a stagnant imbalanced fief.

The Palestinians are already on the verge of famine.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/05/middleeast/gaza-famine-world-food-programme-intl-hnk/index.html

Northern Gaza is experiencing a “full-blown famine” which is rapidly spreading across the strip...the World Food Programme warned

Gaza is not that big. The situation is already horrific and it's about to get so much worse.

Because those in power spend a lot of effort distancing themselves from the impact they have and casting blame on everyone else, including on the victims.

A local factory may be poising the locals, paying little in taxes, and exploiting workers on the cheap but they are the biggest employer and its those minorities' fault for some reason and if not that it's the locals' fault for not pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps like their fathers did....

Oh, and look over there, quick! A teacher is trying to groom your kid because he refused to shame that one gay kid in school! Git 'im!

The man has turned his back on the progressives that elected him. It's not just Israel. https://nypost.com/2023/12/15/news/fetterman-insists-hes-not-a-progressive-despite-frequently-calling-himself-one/

I also haven't seen much coverage of the fact that the other front runner for speaker, Jim Jordan, turned a blind eye to and likely helped cover up the sexual abuse of college athletes.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/06/politics/jordan-osu-wrestlers-strauss-invs/index.html

It's not "tries to assassinate" it's "tries to have assassinated". Something tells me Trump couldn't assassinate a stuff deer.

More like they need to have everyone use the app so that they can offer "AI Assistant" features through it.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2024/01/28/new-details-free-ai-upgrade-for-google-and-samsung-android-users-leaks/

The US was believed to have been in back channel talks with Iran until Israel pulled the shit they pulled... potentially on purpose.

It is suspected that they are trying to start shit with Iran because it has a good chance to torpedo the talks... and because then the US, and possibly other European nations, will feel pressured to forget the whole Gaza thing for now and support Israel against Iran. It's ok to keep selling them weapons when there is a real war going on.

Do you know what systemic racism is? Do you believe it exists?

Some folks have been calling this for a while. The Bigger Short

Absolutely. Dumb TVs going forward. Unfortunate that the best screens like those made by Samsung are ruined by surveillance and hardware that can't run the "smart" OS for more than a few years without eventually running like dog shit.

A right to repair bill made it just as far in NY and the Governor absolutely sabotaged it.

Jesus Christ, I guess the capitalists are still winning. Keep us fighting amongst ourselves so we never unite. What, exactly, would convince you to have solidarity with a person able to save 3k a year? To quit and work for less? To donate all non-living expenses to charity until their QOL is on par with yours?

Seriously though, there is no reason why labor at all levels can't work together to improve the system and demand better treatment across the board.

We hear aid is provided, we hear aid is taken away from civilians by Hamas beating people, we hear people selling aid packages to others civilians. We hear all sorts of things.

Which of these potentially terrible things negates what has been done to the people of Gaza? The destruction of their infrastructure - housing, universities, hospitals. The killing of civilians. The living conditions. The starvation.

So there is some, but not nearly enough aid. So some bad actors are taking advantage of the unimaginably fucked up situation there. How does that change the fact that Israel is at best using collective punishment (a war crime) and at worst committing genocide?

I continue to hold my nose and vote blue because in virtually every case the Democratic candidate is far better than the Republican candidate (from my left leaning perspective).

What frustrates me is that I have no power to push the party further left. In my fantasy, crowds of people can shout from the streets "Democratic party, do X or I will withhold my vote!" and the Democrats will lose an election, realize their folly, and move to the left. In reality, they'll just write those crowds off as unrealistic and unreliable and likely move center to try and court more "independent" votes. With two parties dominating and the current electoral system, that's just how it goes.

I don't have the energy to be the difference, politically. I try to do the right thing and I help people I can in small ways - at work, in my small social circles, and by donating to organizations I trust will help. Hell, I'm afraid to be part of the shouting crowd because doing anything openly could jeopardize my work situation or even my employment. To add to that, I am antisocial, anxious, and too stressed in daily life to really engage in effective, direct action.

I'm just tired and disheartened. I feel like when I hold my nose and vote blue, sometimes I'm endorsing what I often perceive as a shift to the right.

Powerful, self-interested, wealthy people on the right though... they can just throw so much money at a problem. It takes so, so many more of us to fight against it. Deep down I know reducing my involvement just gives those assholes more power. It's what some of them are fighting to do - dishearten the masses so that they'll just give up.

I don't really have a point I guess. I'm just tired. I know that the right is becoming so openly fascist because they know they don't have the popular support... but they have the resources to drag this out. Maybe even change rules to make it so that breaking the law, even violence, becomes the only way to fight back. I just hope it ends soon. I'm tired of thinking about what it means when they continue to get close to half the votes all across the country.

The difference between the people you call proletariat and the people you refuse to call proletariat is often luck. Luck is fickle and can swing both ways. A manager at a bank is absolutely proletariat, they've just been given a bit more money and told they're no longer proletariat. This is because it's way easier to keep workers and management at each other's throats than to have everyone target the real source of the "orders from above".

I expect that, like me, most of the upvoters see that as a joke/mockery of our stereotype... and no, obviously, we can't help but make the joke.

Now if only it would stop dropping leading zeros unless you ask it

That appears to actually be a feature.

Because things escalated significantly in the last few weeks.

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/06/1210831466/death-toll-gaza-israel-hamas-conflict

This explains this one lady I often see dancing along the sidewalk on my commute home. She actually looks remarkably similar to this lady, just with grey/blond hair.

There is at least one person out there still keeping the art alive.

now that Trump has been president once, I know what it's like when that happens and don't worry that much about it anymore).

That sounds disturbingly like you aren't all that concerned about what a second Trump presidency would be like. It sounds like you think the first one wasn't as bad as people thought it would be and the second one will similarly be better than people think. Am I misreading your words?

As someone who is trying to teach themselves a few new things this year by diving to projects using them... I seriously, seriously feel you. It honestly makes me question whether I should just abandon each project I start, both professional and personal.

All the relevant hits are from years and/or 2+ versions of whatever ago or forum posts with dead links to an alleged solution.

I feel like in the past I could just dive into something and search my way through it. Now I feel like that era is over and I question whether it's me, my niche project idea, the disappearing community, or just the search engines.

...and if they instead decide that the left cannot be depended on and start courting voters more to the right?

I honestly felt how you feel. I just don't think it's historically worked that way.

Push local reps to the left and Primary the centrists. I'm all for it... but going home because your guy isn't on the ballot is playing a dangerous game right now.

If the country can handle a Republican win, then go back to staying home in protest. But I think, especially at this point in time, that a Trump win would spell the end of American democracy.

While I agree with your sentiment, I do feel like it is a step in the right direction and will help a great many people in poverty.

Going straight from one economic system to another is likely to be an extremely violent process. I'm hoping that this would act as a stepping stone towards socialism rather than a life preserver for capitalism.

At this point I feel like it's akin to art that people just don't get. The average person doesn't understand the message or point.

These protestors are committing simple acts that threaten to damage something that people value. People are so very angry that biodegradable paint was sprayed on an ancient monument, or that soup was tossed onto the glass protecting a famous painting.

Yet they continue on with their lives and refuse to hold many corporations accountable while those corporations make our planet less habitable. This would become a wall of text that nobody would read if I tried to just outline the existential threat human society faces thanks to the reckless behavior of many of the organizations. The suffering, loss of life, economic damage... unimaginable... yet we are basically barreling toward that inevitability at full steam.

But I'm sorry, how silly of me. How could I forget that some scientists might lose the opportunity to study undisturbed lichen on Stonehenge this year.

Fucking hell. Some highlights...

90 labourers removed from site by US federal agencies. In lawsuit, 6 workers alleged they were paid merely 10% of hourly minimum wage, forced to live in gruelling conditions... They allege that they were paid $1 per hour for their work when the minimum wage in New Jersey is $12 per hour... the workers were allegedly brought to the US on R-1 Visas that are applicable for clergy and religious workers like missionaries. The labourers were presented to the US government like volunteers... the workers’ passports had been confiscated, they were given lentils and potatoes for meals and that their pay was cut for the smallest of violations such as being seen without a helmet.

You can abuse your position as a holdout and potentially fuck everything up in either chamber. Bills require passage in both chambers... but I'm sure you knew that.

I just hope there are enough gains in the house to make his ass irrelevant.

What happens if the electors get corrupt and decide to vote Trump against the majority of the population?

It is the case that electors are required to vote for the nominee that they pledged to vote for. If you pledged to vote A as an elector you are obligated to vote A. However, as I understand from skimming CHIAFALO ET AL. v. WASHINGTON (2019), it is on pain of penalty...

There might be more to it but I don't have time to read it all.

Also, it doesn't really matter what the rules say. The current right wing majority of the SCOTUS doesn't give a flying fuck about laws, rules, or precedents if they don't support their views so who the fuck knows.