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rob

@rob@skol.social

Born and raised in Wisconsin, escaped and living in Minnesota

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

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

When there is an incumbent a debate is an opportunity for the country to "get to know" the challenger. When both candidates are former presidents, neither of whom have been out of the news even for a moment... what is the point?

Will we learn anything new?

I'm seeing a lot of panic and "This is bad for Biden" flickering by, and I'd agree ... if he wasn't someone we already knew.

Never-forget the implicit desire media has for a horse race.

I'll be curious to see the ratings.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird
I’m paraphrasing Chris Rock here, but all Biden had to do was show up and show everyone he was a mammal. He needed to show us he’s just a person like everyone else who breathes air and drinks water.

But - and this pains me to say it - he looks like a lizard. He doesn’t seem to always grasp what needs to be said. His arguments - while they are more relevant than his opponent - sound weak.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@MisuseCase @futurebird
Let me first say that although #DirtyT sounded more coherent, the only thing he was coherent on is conveying his own belief that the election was stolen. If Biden was your feeble grandpa, Trump was your crazy uncle you avoid at Thanksgiving.

But people get colds during wars and disasters and other emergencies. And we need those people to be at their best at those times of crisis. This was no cold. It’s much sadder and alarming than that.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@MisuseCase @futurebird
If anyone else had been on the stage with Biden last night - all of us Americans - 100% - would acknowledge the obvious fact that Biden is not well.

I’m going to vote for him. But too many people for too long who should know better have been promoting a story that just doesn’t appear to be true. And last night was embarrassing for us as a nation but especially for the Democratic Party.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@MisuseCase @futurebird

This isn’t about you.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@MisuseCase @futurebird

Because ultimately we’re not going to decide the race. We’ll vote the way we vote.

Biden needs to urgently be replaced. Else, we’re going to lose. You want to believe it’s because Biden “had a cold”? That’s fine. I have no issue with that.

There are millions of Americans who were shellshocked by what they saw last night. It wasn’t just that Biden was off. He looked and sounded like he had dementia. The genie is out of the bottle. It’s not going back in.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

They don't have to nominate him.

They have a choice. There could be emergency meetings scrambling, an effort to save face.

This is a choice and it's a bad one except as a cynical and increasingly desperate play for power.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird
Well said!

randahl , to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

UN human rights experts horrified: Seven mass graves found in northern Gaza with 520 Palestinian bodies. Some beheaded, some showing signs of torture.

The Israeli government can scream "anti-semitism" as much as they want — The International Criminal Court is coming for Benjamin Netanyahu, and the world will never forget what his government did.

Never again.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/4652018-reports-mount-of-mass-graves-at-gaza-hospitals-some-without-heads/amp/

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@clintruin @darnell @randahl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Authority_Martyrs_Fund

The Palestinian Authority set up a fund to pay the parents of suicide bombers and the people who kill Israeli soldiers. The fund has paid out over $300 million to date. This fund is supported by over 90% of Palestinians.

People who do not want their children to die would not set up such a fund.

It’s sad that children are dying. Really sad. But this cartoon is offensive and wrong.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@clintruin @darnell @randahl

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67629181

Whatever you have to tell yourself to believe Hamas (which controls the news) or get behind rape as a tool of war. Where were your cartoons on October 8?

I’m not sure I am the one lying to myself. If Palestinians cared about their kids they #1: wouldn’t have started the war, #2: wouldn’t have established a fund for blowing up their own children.

You do not dispute the facts. And I think your support is misguided and sad.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Via Kyle Griffin:

President is traveling to Racine County, Wisconsin today to unveil a $3.3 billion investment by Microsoft to build an AI data center in the state.

This is the same location where, seven years ago, touted a $10 billion Foxconn facility as the "eighth wonder of the world."
That facility never fully materialized.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@GottaLaff
Only this time, it’s real and the governor isn’t making numbers up to curry favor with a corrupt president and naive Speaker of the House.

https://www.theverge.com/21507966/csk-8th-wonder-of-the-world

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

“Fluent Python” is an excellent example of a “good programming language book” — it’s not cluttered with “enterprise examples” it’s focused on how python works and goes into detail on edge cases. This lets one write code with real confidence that you know everything it’s doing. It is also written with the aim to justify why python is the way that it is. Which I need or I get irritated.

If you like python you should probably have a pdf or buy a copy.

Now which book on Java is analogous?

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @ramgarlic

I’ve been meaning to read a Python book. Will start here based on your recommendation.

jeffjarvis , to random
@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social avatar

Works every time. sells. This is the corruption of the attention economy. It is as old as the steam-powered press and mass media.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc @jeffjarvis

In the 80’s (when I was a kid):

We had deforestation, Nazi demonstrations in Skokie Illinois, interest rates were 14%. AIDS was just becoming widespread and people were dying and the response was completely bungled.

Everyone needs to CALM DOWN. None of this is new.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc

You think the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s were all sunshine and lollipops? I lived through 4/5ths of those decades and I knew people that lived through the 50’s and 60’s.

Life is how you make it. The glass is half full or half empty. If you think people before you didn’t feel stress, then you are not a good student of history.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc @jeffjarvis

https://youtu.be/ZTT1qUswYL0?si=Y3faOaO3cjSgTN82

This was a parody of a real incident that took place in Skokie, Illinois. The Nazi march that took place there was made possible by the ACLU. I believe the lawyer that won the case was Jewish (if memory serves).

That’s how precious we’ve become as a society.

In any event, these “Illinois nazis” are forever ridiculed in the Blues Brothers.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc @jeffjarvis

In addition to being elected to the Louisiana house, this a**-clown was frequently on television when I was a kid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_David_Duke

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc @jeffjarvis

https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/hiv-aids-crisis-timeline

We got a vaccine for COVID in less than 2 years. It took decades to get effective medicines for AIDS. It’s kind of impossible to understand the fear (100% ignorance) by today’s standards.

You want to talk about a bungled response to disease? COVID is not your poster child. AIDS is.

But the kids today have no idea about that.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc @jeffjarvis

https://advisor.visualcapitalist.com/us-interest-rates/

In 1981, interest rates spiked to nearly 16%. You think that made houses affordable? Somehow my parents were able to find something in this environment.

By historical standards, please note, rates are still LOW. There is a temporary housing crunch, but it’ll be a blip.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc @jeffjarvis

In terms of student debt, I have no stats, just a comment. Full disclosure, I have 3 kids in college right now. They will all likely graduate debt-free. Is it because I’m so rich? I guess it’s how you look at it.

I have saved for their education since birth. I drove the same car for 25 years and sacrificed. We were realistic about the college (they are at state schools). All of them work and are expected to work.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc @jeffjarvis

I’ll concede on climate change. But I will say that it was already noticed back in the 80’s when I was in high school. One of my classmates moved to Wisconsin to take over our local ski hill. I remember more than one of my four years where the child was stressed because of the lack of snow.

The change has accelerated. And that makes me anxious as well.

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc @jeffjarvis

I suspected as much.

The reasons for the “anxious generation” aren’t the ones you cited. Else WE would be the anxious generation. We’ve seen worse!

I guess the question is: why did this affect this generation and we just kept our heads down and lived life?

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc @jeffjarvis
If you’re Gen X like me, then you’re probably asking yourself, “How did we go from DYI generation to the fragile generation?”

My wife tells me that the blame lays partially on technology and partially on hovering parents (I am not without blame).

rob ,
@rob@skol.social avatar

@futurebird @bjc @jeffjarvis

That makes me feel better. I think I misinterpreted your list as why kids are fragile rather than as a semi-sarcastic list of why people in general feel anxious.

Good thing I went on my rant. 😜

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Via Will: "When a cargo ship took out a #Baltimore bridge, it also demolished the lies poisoning our #immigration debate

The 6 migrant men who died weren't drug dealers or sex traffickers but hero dads filling potholes to give their kids a better life.

This column meant more to me than anything I've written for a while. Here's an excerpt. Please take a moment to read the whole thing."

If @willbunch wrote it, you should read it.©

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/baltimore-bridge-collapse-immigrant-deaths-20240328.html#loaded

‘When the Dali cargo ship demolished that bridge support on Tuesday. it also obliterated all the ridiculous lies and myths our demagogues have been spreading around immigration. There were no sex traffickers aboard the Key Bridge that night. Nobody was dealing fentanyl. They ‘were not “animals,” but fathers and husbands like Suazo and Luna, ‘whose wife occasionally showed up in her food truck to bring the men tacos and pupusas. They were filling potholes so their children could have an even better life. These six workers who perished were not “poisoning the blood of our country,” they were replenishing it. This is a moment of clarity when we need to reject the national disease of xenophobia and restore our faith in the United States as a beacon for the best people like Maynor Suazo. They may have been born all over the continent, but when these men plunged into our waters on Tuesday. they died as Americans.
ALT
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    rob ,
    @rob@skol.social avatar

    @GottaLaff @willbunch

    https://www.axios.com/2024/03/28/latino-economic-growth-business-native-born-citizens

    Your comments align with this article published yesterday.

    GottaLaff , to random
    @GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

    Via Timothy Snyder: 1/…

    The thing Trump did in Dayton – celebrating his fascist movement's dubious "martyrs"–is exactly what Goebbels & Hitler did bw Nazis' failed coup & their seizure of power. Their song was called the Horst Wessel Song.

    Nazis were obsessive abt being the victims. Once in power they put up monuments to their "martyrs." They sang their Horst Wessel Song as they conquered countries & killed millions to say that they, Nazis, were real victims and therefore always innocent.

    rob ,
    @rob@skol.social avatar

    @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff

    There's another aspect to this video worth noting - makes no sense.

    You could add this video to the other addled comments that have been circulating on the internet.

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