@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

HopeOfTheGunblade

@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Yes, it can't impact the trial, that he didn't testify. Doesn't mean we can't infer, out here away from the court, that he put up a big front in public and slunk away with his tail between his legs in court, because he knew he was guilty and would only have made things worse if he testified, along with earning some counts of perjury.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

First conviction, they'd be concurrent and highly unlikely he'd get max time. However, this is a first conviction, breaking the glass ceiling for convicting an ex president, in the weakest of the four current trials. Sentences become more likely to be jail up to minimum guaranteed imprisonment for some time, because of sentencing guidelines, as well as the terms getting longer for each conviction.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

We can dream.

Americans have a huge hard on for punishing people, regardless of utility.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Something something why doesn't Batman arrest Bruce Wayne

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Apparently it has a significant chance of "aggressive ass cancer".

‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice ( www.theguardian.com )

Scientists have warned that a court decision to block the growing of the genetically modified (GM) crop Golden Rice in the Philippines could have catastrophic consequences. Tens of thousands of children could die in the wake of the ruling, they argue....

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

If just grow carrots lol was adequate, tell me again why people are deficient in the nutrients golden rice has over baseline rice, please.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

"Big corps" aren't involved here. It's a philanthropy project, and from what I can find it's not legally encumbered in any way like Monsanto stuff is. This is entirely Greenpeace doing something that gets headlines, instead of something actually good. Don't forget that that organization, too, has motives, first among which is going to be survival and advancement of the organization.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

I did that. I'm also going to vote against more genocide, done not just abroad but at home.

In the voting booth, there is no "no genocide" button. Your choices come down to "more genocide" and "less genocide", and you get to push towards one outcome or the other.

Personally, I'm going to take a brave stance against "more genocide", but if your principles keep you from engaging with the real options, well.

I'm sure the people who die who wouldn't have otherwise will forgive you.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

FYI: I voted uncommitted to send a message to Biden that I care about Gaza and what happens there. I also recognize that the Republicans will jump in with both feet on "burn it to the ground with nuclear fire", so I did what I could to communicate with Biden, and will also be voting for him in the general. I'm one vote, but I know I'm not the only person with that view.

Oil and Gas Billionaires Drum Up Dollars for Trump ( www.nytimes.com )

This comes after Trump promised the oil executives he'd end all decarbonization efforts in exchange for a billion dollars, and made it possible for Trump to start outraising Biden for the first time...

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

That just gets you the candidate you want less from the ones provided.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

The problem in his view, as best I can tell, is that there is a natural hierarchy, that he belongs on top of telling everyone else what to do, and any upset of this natural hierarchy is oppressing him. He may not have thought this out in so many words, but it's a hypothesis that seems to make accurate predictions about what people in his reference class will do and say.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

And neveryoumind if society as we know it is a mighty pile of suck for people not at the top. Shoulda been born rich white christian cishet males.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

So on some level, sure, boo hoo, cry me a river, right?

But wealth, serious wealth, orders of magnitude disproportionate wealth will fuck you up. It isolates you from the majority of people, makes you paranoid, makes you unable to reasonably judge your success... There's a Some More News on this, with links to a lot of research, and at this point, I honestly feel like gently separating people from any amount of money over 999m USD at most and using part of it to pay for therapy and the rest to help the rest of humanity might be the kindest thing we could do for them.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Ha-ha, only yes absolutely, with no hint of sarcasm whatsoever.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Sorry, am I confused about what you are saying? Because it seems like you are being snarky about the idea that the Republican party will not do what it has been doing and loudly announcing it will continue to do since 2020. Really, trump started in 2016, but he did actually win that one electorally.

Am I misunderstanding you?

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

I think that, so long as work is mandatory to basic survival, it will be degrading. When people have real options is when that changes.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

I mean, it is a complex issue, and there are two sides of it. One of the sides is doing a genocide. The other side makes attacks when they can, killing much smaller numbers. If suddenly the power balance switched, I'm not convinced Hamas wouldn't go for doing a genocide.

What actually matters here is that nobody should be doing genocides, both sides have reason to say, "they started it!", and it's not going to end until both sides can accept that yes, shit happened, bad things were intentionally done by people, and everyone needs to move on, or there will be another round, and another, and another, and another...

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

What happens to queer people who happen to be born in rural areas, in your model?

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Crook County

Nominative determinism strikes again.

All of these come down to, "we want the right to keep fucking everyone else with externalities while enjoying the benefits of outsourcing those costs," which, no sympathy. Grow up, people.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

"Don't kill queer people," is outsiders imposing their opinion. A constitution that applies to everyone doesn't necessarily follow what locals are going to want to do.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Literally impossible right now. It'd take a 2/3ds senate majority to remove him.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

That was one of the conditions of these debates.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

The FBI passed?

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

He quashed the strike in the moment, and got them most of their demands as a follow-up, as I hear it. But only the first part ever made the news, for some reason.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Ugh, god damn it.

Thanks for the correction..

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

It would be super weird if we couldn't take Trump at his word, if it failed to be his bond, huh?

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

I wear a respirator every time I leave the house. If COVID taught us anything, it is that people are more disgusting and less considerate than we had imagined. Meanwhile, COVID is still a thing, long COVID is still a thing, and it's progressive - every time you catch COVID the rates and the damage are worse.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Well, shit. That's going to put a little tarnish on my next FNV playthrough.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Well yeah, but I'll know.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

I mean, it's possible to have a happy, healthy, 24/7 D/s relationship. Not that you're wrong about the rest of it; the people who get into the tradwife thing think "consent" is a dirty word.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Hands up if you thought this was about Shane Vaughn for a minute.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

I'm going to go with, "anyone who Putin left in place is performatively patriotic at best".

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

A name for this?

Isn't it ironic, dontcha think?

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

I've been concerned about AI as x risk for years before big tech had a word to say on the matter. It is both possible for it to be a threat, and for large companies to be trying to take advantage of that.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

I'm well aware, but we don't get to build an AGI and then figure it out, and we can't keep these ones on target, see any number of "funny" errors people posted, up to the paper I can't recall the name of offhand that had all of the examples of even simpler systems being misaligned.

Hey i just wanna know are raccoons evil in some kind of way ?

A lot of things i thought were cute and nice like dolphines, ducks, cats (i saw one cat eat anothers new born), dogs (multiple cases of eating dead owners due to a variety of reasons starting from trying to wake em up to other malicious reasons), hamsters etc turned out to be wrong . Raccoons are the only thing i believe in...

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

But not a Venus flytrap. Or a pitcher plant. Or rafflesia. Or...

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

What's worse is that it's not evenly distributed across the set of young talent. The most capable, most impressive, most outstanding talent, is going to have the most options, and thus are most likely to go. It isn't just a halving of the upcoming workforce, it's a lessening of the average quality of that reduced force.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

It’s disappointing to watch an increasing number of Republicans fall in line behind former president Donald Trump. This includes some of his fiercest detractors, such as U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, who raised eyebrows during a recent interview by vowing to support the “Republican ticket.”

This mentality is dead wrong.

Yes, elections are a binary choice. Yes, serious questions linger about President Biden’s ability to serve until the age of 86. His progressive policies aren’t to conservatives’ liking.

But the GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden. At the same time, we should work to elect GOP congressional majorities to block his second-term legislative agenda and provide a check and balance.

The alternative is another term of Trump, a man who has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character. The headlines are ablaze with his hush-money trial over allegations of improper record-keeping for payments to conceal an affair with an adult-film star.

Most important, Trump fanned the flames of unfounded conspiracy theories that led to the horrific events of Jan. 6, 2021. He refuses to admit he lost the last election and has hinted he might do so again after the next one.

Those holding their nose and falling behind Trump tend to rely on similar arguments. Sometimes it involves, as Barr stated in his CNN interview, the, “duty to pick the person who I think would do the least damage to the country.”

Ironically, having served as his attorney general until December 2020, Barr saw firsthand Trump’s ability to cause damage. Barr’s declaration that the U.S. Justice Department uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election infuriated his boss and set off a chain of events that ended with Jan. 6.

Trump and his allies hatched cockamamie schemes that included fake slates of electors and have led to indictments (so far) in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Georgia. They spread wild-eyed conspiracy theories that resulted in defamation lawsuits, including a $148 million verdict against former Trump lawyer and New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Other reluctant Trump supporters will cite their policy differences with Biden. Or Trump’s accomplishments as president, ranging from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to three appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. Or they will point to the sense of chaos sweeping the nation right now, most notably the widespread anti-Israel protests at college campuses.

I get it. No one likes paying higher taxes, and these protests are unsettling. But the last year of the Trump presidency was hardly a time of tranquillity. His handling of the pandemic was erratic, including at one point musing about consuming disinfectants. His reliance on incendiary phrases such as “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” fueled racial unrest. His infamous march to St. John’s Episcopal Church across the street from the White House, flanked by top aides (including Barr) and brandishing a Bible, further set the nation ablaze.

Trump has shown us who he is. We should believe him. To think he is going to change at the age of 77 is beyond improbable.

Yet each new day increases the possibility of a second Trump presidency. Voters’ memories are short. A new CNN survey showed a majority (55%) of all Americans viewing Trump’s presidency as a success, while 44% see it as a failure. Compare that with Biden, whom only 39% call a success compared with 61% who think his term has been a failure. The same poll shows Trump with a 6-point national polling lead over Biden, whose approval rating (38%) is well below the 50% threshold of reelected incumbent presidents.

The situation is equally bleak in the battleground states that will determine the next occupant of the White House. A recent poll from the Wall Street Journal showed Trump leading in six out of seven of those states. If these results hold, he will have more than enough electoral votes for a second term.

The healing of the Republican Party cannot begin with Trump as president (and that’s aside from the untold damage that potentially awaits our country). A forthcoming Time magazine cover story lays out in stark terms “the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world.”

Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life. This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Not my content; the article has a vexing system of gatekeeping, so I reposted it here.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Not my content; the article has a vexing system of gatekeeping, so I reposted it here.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

I'd be pretty surprised if there were a private security option capable of holding off the military, if the president really wanted someone dead and had the legal go-ahead.

I'd be really surprised if Trump could afford them.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

I'm aware. I'm not sure what exactly the secret service is going to do about a salvo of hellfire missiles. If the president of the US wants you dead and isn't legally restrained I certainly wouldn't trade places with you.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

It's not an apology if you keep trucking right the fuck on along. You apologize, in part, by fixing the problem. Absent that, it's just empty words. Meaningless.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

"This is entirely out of our control, and if you want an apology, here are the contact details for the person who has the authority to give you one."

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

1.7, 1.6, 1.5.....

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

That's an unfortunate way to live. Personally I'm hoping for a Biden victory, and also for you to have a long and happy life that contains the minimum of suffering required for your growth as a person. Wanting people hurt is a kind of happiness / satisfaction that is like using dirty gas. It might work for a while, but it degrades the engine over time.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Why does he look like Dollar General Seth Meyers?

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Getting surgery for trans related stuff is a massive pain, even when cis people fly through getting the same surgery for the same reasons, like getting implants. If anything, it's gatekept too much.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • test
  • worldmews
  • mews
  • All magazines
    •