absentbird

absentbird , 3 hours ago

If you own a house with nobody living in it, you gotta pay rent to the state each month for the privilege of keeping it empty.

absentbird , 2 hours ago

No, like market rate for the property. Everyone pays property tax, regardless of whether the property is vacant or occupied.

absentbird , 3 days ago

Also so people can assess the vigor and wit of two candidates that each side has been calling decrepit and cognitively impaired.

absentbird , 2 days ago

If you're not adjusting for inflation you're just betting that EV range won't come down in price faster than inflation. Seems like a bit of a technicality, but I still wouldn't bet on it myself. I have a feeling 350 miles of range is going to be pretty common in a few years.

absentbird , 2 days ago

That makes sense. Though it's not unheard of for breakthroughs in battery chemistry to lead to increased energy density, which would increase range without increasing weight.

absentbird , 3 days ago

Anya eating peanuts

absentbird , 7 days ago

Biden supports a ceasefire. The only people resisting a ceasefire are Netanyahu and the Republican party.

absentbird , 8 days ago

When it comes to keeping republicans from taking power and enacting Christian nationalism, how is that different than not voting?

absentbird , 8 days ago

Not to mention overturning abortion rights, criminalizing trans people, trying to overthrow democracy, and full throated endorsement of climate skepticism.

absentbird , 8 days ago

I can think of one country first in line to take them: Ukraine, or Ukrainian refugees sheltering in NATO countries. Wtf kind of fascist take are you spewing? 'Someone has to save these kids from the warzone we created; can't just give them to their extended families, those are the enemy, guess we have no choice but to do genocide '. Get the fuck out of here.

absentbird , 8 days ago

For which claim? That encouraging people on Lemmy not to vote helps Republicans? I mean I don't have a survey or anything, but I don't think I've encountered a single trump supporter on here. What sort of evidence are you looking for?

absentbird , 8 days ago

Did they try locating the extended families, or did they just abduct thousands of children to be raised as Russians? That's a rhetorical question, they did the latter.

absentbird , 8 days ago

Only when it's a first past the post system and one of the top two candidates is a fascist dead set on ending democracy and becoming a dictator. Outside that specific scenario it's much less cut and dry.

absentbird , 8 days ago (edited 6 days ago)

Oh yeah, like how during the Iraq war when the US abducted all those Iraqi children and gave them to American families? Or when France stole all those orphans from central Africa to raise as little French kids? Or when the Canadian adoption system was flush with Afghani children they took away from their families and homeland?

Pretty sure abducting children after killing their parents has always been wrong.

absentbird , 7 days ago

There's additional stipulations, the most crucial being the dictator thing. It's also much different in parliamentary governments, where you can vote for a number of parties that oppose fascism who can then form a coalition; most liberal democracies work that way. But it would be easier for the US to adopt ranked choice voting than to switch to a parliamentary system, so first past the post is what I chose to critique.

absentbird , 7 days ago

The perception of a particular office-holder as a "dictator" is a very relative thing.

Except in this case Trump has promised to be a dictator: https://youtu.be/aX0iAmz9iLM?si=PbFCWr6CvpJ-nlXc

Also he was the first president in history to refuse a peaceful transition of power and attempted to overthrow the democratic process.

It would be functionally impossible to adopt ranked choice voting...

You don't go about it from the federal level. States control their own elections. We could use state-level ballot measures to let the public vote for ranked choice voting state by state.

absentbird , 7 days ago (edited 6 days ago)

When has it happened in a situation that wasn't genocide? Did the British adopt thousands of German children in WW2? Were thousands of Italian children adopted away to America?

In what conflict has this ever been acceptable?

absentbird OP , 9 days ago

UPDATE: Hamas accepts UN ceasefire resolution, ready to negotiate over details, official says

Hamas accepts a UN Security Council ceasefire resolution and is ready to negotiate over the details, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Tuesday, adding that it was up to Washington to ensure that Israel abides by it.

Hamas accepts the UN security council resolution in regard to the ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli troops and swap of hostages for detainees held by Israel, he said.

"The U.S. administration is facing a real test to carry out its commitments in compelling the occupation to immediately end the war in an implementation of the UN Security Council resolution," Abu Zuhri said.

absentbird OP , 9 days ago

You are literally the person who suggested I should try posting news about Hamas: https://lemm.ee/post/34012517/12428169

absentbird OP , 9 days ago

I thought this story was interesting. Especially the messages about how the taking of civilian hostages should not have happened. We don't often get a glimpse into the mind of Hamas leadership like this. It can be hard to know what's intentional and what's not. You said the dying isn't exactly news, which is why I haven't been posting about that.

absentbird OP , 9 days ago

Yes, very exciting news. Now we need to make sure Israel keeps their side of the agreement.

absentbird OP , 9 days ago

We'll have to see what Blinken can do about it. He said he has a high confidence Israel will agree to the deal if Hamas does. I'm interested to see if the US can apply enough pressure to get a ceasefire in place.

absentbird OP , 8 days ago

It's in the WSJ article: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/gaza-chiefs-brutal-calculation-civilian-bloodshed-will-help-hamas-626720e7

Paywall bypass: https://archive.md/TUxqo

absentbird , 9 days ago

Behold the might of the SU-57: even unmanned and grounded they intercept drones.

absentbird , 13 days ago

I see a lot of Hamas criticism in threads about Israel. I can't remember the last time I saw a post about Hamas though.

absentbird , 13 days ago (edited 13 days ago)

By allowing the terrorism to succeed they're encouraging further harassment against a vulnerable minority.

Many of my loved ones were already in danger from those hateful bigots, who are now emboldened and looking for new targets thanks to spineless corporate appeasement.

absentbird , 13 days ago

No, my solution is to protect the workers and continue to stand for queer acceptance. When people shoplift these corporations have no qualms with spending millions on security, but when it comes to standing up for the LGBTQ+ community they won't put their money where their mouth is, they would rather shift the conflict onto people who don't have ample resources to defend themselves.

absentbird , 13 days ago

I've worked retail for stores like that. It doesn't need to be the way you're describing it. If they put a fraction of the effort they put towards loss prevention into protecting their workers everyone could be safe.

Costco required masks for years during the pandemic, some people hated it and blamed the workers, but instead of giving up and backing down Costco invested in keeping their staff safe and de-escalating conflicts.

absentbird , 14 days ago

Interestingly, vermilion (the pigment) is made from cinnabar, which is another location name in Kanto.

absentbird , 14 days ago

Except Biden put out a statement opposing this legislation:

The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 8282, the “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act.” H.R. 8282 would impose mandatory sanctions and visa restrictions on any foreign person determined to aid, materially assist, or provide financial support for efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to undertake certain investigations and prosecutions, among others. This legislation could require sanctions against court staff, judges, witnesses, and U.S. allies and partners who provide even limited, targeted support to the court in a range of aspects of its work.

The Administration is deeply concerned about the ICC Prosecutor’s heedless rush to apply for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials. At the same time, the Administration opposes the imposition of sanctions against the ICC, its personnel, its judges, or those who assist its work. There are more effective ways to defend Israel, preserve U.S. positions on the ICC, and promote international justice and accountability, and the Administration stands ready to work with the Congress on those options.

Source

Just because he said something else critical of the ICC doesn't mean he supports the house sanctions.

absentbird , 13 days ago

That sounds really efficient.

absentbird , 14 days ago

The biggest recipients of government handouts are the billionaires. And how do they repay us? By evading over $150 billion in taxes every year. That's more than every EBT and WIC program combined.

absentbird , 14 days ago

People can live comfortably and still work hard. It's almost like poverty doesn't encourage work, but infact only makes life more difficult and stressful in myriad ways, ultimately decreasing effective productivity.

absentbird , 14 days ago

When I first started my business I had to rely on food stamps to stay afloat for a few months after my savings ran out, but it let me keep trying and now I've been gainfully in business for over 15 years. Just anecdotal, but I would have had to give up or starve without assistance.

absentbird , 16 days ago

I'm no fan of capitalism, but this type of electoral dysfunction seems to run particularly deep in America. There's many other democracies in capitalist nations that have the basic sense to treat such brazen bribery as a crime.

absentbird , 18 days ago

I personnally think the trend is to dismiss crimes until someone is finally convicted. Then the dismiss abrubtly ends and prosecution succees fully. Either 0% guilty or 100%.

That is how "innocent until proven guilty" is supposed to work.

What's hard to believe is none of the previous presidents committed any single crime, while this one committed at least 64 and 'nobody knew'.

Previous presidents have committed crimes (Clinton committed perjury, Grant was arrested three times, Nixon was part of a criminal conspiracy) but none were convicted of a felony before now. And everybody knew about Trump's crimes, his accomplice was already convicted and served his sentence.

absentbird , 18 days ago

I stand corrected. Thank you for the added details.

absentbird , 20 days ago

This. If the republican party crumbles, Democrats could become the right party, with Progressives as the left. At least then we'd have two parties with ideas and an interest in governing.

absentbird , 20 days ago

Poor Eisenhower

absentbird , 20 days ago

They're both issues, but only the latter is a prosecutable offense in our current legal system. They should both be, but that's not the current state of the law.

absentbird , 20 days ago

Apparently so.
Eisenhower receiving medal

absentbird , 20 days ago

I agree, but apparently presidents are immune from prosecution for anything done in office. I really hope that can get overturned, but it's the current state of the law.

absentbird , 20 days ago

Apparently his license had been restored in 2022, but due to a clerical error it was still listed as suspended. That's part of the reason for the hearing.

absentbird , 21 days ago

It doesn't need to be published in a scientific journal. Publication in journals is the most streamlined way to go through the process, but you could publish your hypothesis and methodology to a blog and potentially get the same benefits.

Even patents need to be published. Publication is how discoveries are shared and verified.

absentbird , 22 days ago

The Armenian genocide wasn't that long ago, it happened during my grandmother's lifetime, and the current leader of Turkey still denies it was a genocide. But bringing up the Spanish inquisition in 2024 is wack.

absentbird , 23 days ago (edited 23 days ago)

There seems to be a disconnect in how we're talking about this. You seem to be understanding the quote as a statement on preparedness; if you want peace, you should ensure your military is heavily funded and capable of repelling all comers.

My read was more about anticipation; if you want peace, you should plan for war.

On the surface it seems like we're saying the same thing, but it comes into conflict when we run into historical examples. Like to my mind, Rome was always preparing for war, at the time of the quote they were waging wars like clockwork. But it's that very habit of bullying their neighbors that put such a large target on their backs.

By contrast, Britain had been working towards disarmament for years before they shifted gears, there was a reason Chamberlain had to buy so much time. Germany on the other hand had been working tirelessly towards their goals of conquest. Germany had been preparing for war while Britain was preparing for peace.

Does that make sense from your perspective?