BadCivilization
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User ID: 1037
BadCivilization
1yr ago
While watching the Bears-Packers game last night, I saw an an ad defending Colin Kaepernick and how he protested against supposed police brutality and racism by kneeling during the national anthem during games. I was surprised to see at the end the commercial was sponsored by FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, formerly know as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
It seems like a very weird choice of issue to not just weigh in on but spend a huge amount of money advertising. My concerns break down to three issues:
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The commercial felt more like an attempt to make Kapernick's protest sympathetic and palatable than just a defense of his right to protest regardless. It focused on conveying that Kapernick didn't intend the protest to disrespect the military or the country. But if this is really a freedom of expression issue, it shouldn't matter!
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I am skeptical the core issue here is freedom of expression, not due to the content of Kapernick's expression, but due to the time and place. It was done as part of a televised entertainment project. I can't imagine anyone who thinks that an actor has a general right to choose their own lines rather than reading a script. The NFL exercises extremely strict control over on-the-field communications across the board. Athletes get fined for wearing different colored socks to promote uncontroversial social causes if they don't have official league approval. In addition, while it's definitely plausible the protests are why no one gave Kaep another chance, it's not cut and dry either. He was not immediately fired for them and he seemed washed up on the field before he even started protesting.
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I can think of other cases even just related to BLM within professional sports that are much less marginal. Cases where an athlete was explicitly fired for opinions expressed off the field. For example, Seattle Mariners catcher Steve Clevenger was suspended without pay and had his career ended explicitly for insulting BLM protesters on a private locked twitter account. Professional soccer player Aleksandr Katai was cut from the LA Galaxy because his wife insulted BLM protesters on social mediea despite the fact that he disagreed with and apologized for her comments. As far as I can tell, FIRE has never even commented on either case.
I would like there to be a non-partisan group devoted to defending freedom of expression. However, I worry there is some truth to Conquest's second law. My best guess is that FIRE chose this cause because they want to appeal to a wider audience including more left-leaning people. Will FIRE will eventually follow the ACLU in drifting so far left it can no longer serve it's mission? I'm a fan of a lot of work they did in the past and even contributed a small amount monetarily, so the possibility is troubling to me.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
Most people, even YIMBYs, support the right of a community to impose some restrictions on activities with large externalities. Only the most extremist libertarians think anyone has the right to build a fish cannery or paper mill in a residential area.
BadCivilization
9mo ago
The prior charges were politically motivated, but these charges are an attempt to openly criminalize dissent itself and hence an existential threat to our democracy.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
I think it is poor etiquette to start a top-level post about this instead of just replying, especially given how extremely recent the original post was.
Anyway, I haven't followed the issue very closely but I have seen claims relating to an internal email that appears to show that the people running the election were aware of "issues and concerns" related to the use of Sharpies and instructed that ballpoint pens be used for early voting but sharpies on election day. The article I cited refers to this as a Conspiracy Theory but despite that seems to accept the email as real.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
How bad of an idea would it be to try psilocybin alone with no supervision while on vacation in a foreign country?
BadCivilization
9mo ago
People lost their jobs for donating to Kyle Rittenhouse's legal defense fund, so donating to the defense of actual white supremacists who are borderline neo-Nazis seems like a very risky proposition. Can't imagine a "right wing" NGO wanting to be associated with them either.
It takes a neutral civil rights intermediary like the ACLU of yore to handle stuff like this.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
That's an interesting claim, especially considering Yanukovich fled before he could be stripped of power by the legislature for supporting the live-firing on protestors, which is as antithetical to a coup as the meaningful definition of a coup can take it.
What happened in Ukraine is as if the January 6 protestors were much more numerous, armed, and violent; if the Capitol police decided to side with them instead of shooting Ashley Babbit; and if they successfully terrorized Congress into installing Trump while Biden fled.
When the democratically elected president is chased out of office by a violent mob of his political enemies, that is the central example of a coup.
Other takeaways are that contra claims that homeless populations are traveling to California for warm weather or social services, 90% of interviewed participants said they were from California (and 75% from the same county they were homeless in), and backed it up with various details about their hometowns and whatnot.
This does not appear to be true. Those numbers are not about where the respondents were "from" but instead where they were last housed, which could even have been preceded by other homeless stints. Elsewhere the report states 34% were born outside of California. I doubt 34% of the homeless in WV were born in other states.
On top of that, these numbers don't start with the problematic homeless population most people are interested in. If I am reading this right, 21% of them have cars.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
We are citizens protesting. You are insurrectionists. They are rioting.
It's not up for debate whether the Maidan protesters were more armed and violent than the Capitol protesters. No one at the Capitol was throwing Molotov cocktails at police or throwing firebombs into the Capitol building.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
What are the best socks I can buy that can withstand washing in hot water and the dryer on high heat?
BadCivilization
6mo ago
"Midwit" is exceedingly generous for the people piling on this specific Musk criticism. It takes about 2 minutes of internet research to check how much Wikimedia Foundation spending actually goes towards providing Wikipedia.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
The violence documented in the links I provided precedes the shooting and provides important context for why the "protesters" would be suppressed with live ammo.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
Given that the total illegal population has been stable or declining since 2007, at something like 10-12M, I find this rather unlikely. Source 1, source 2
These methodology behind these numbers is bad and a better methodology based on inflows, outflows, and demographic data suggests the illegal population is twice as large.
We have more direct data on new arrivals anyway. Ignoring people who aren't caught, border patrol has stopped about 1.8M illegal entrants this year so far. It seems Biden is now expelling about 40%. 1.8M*0.4/35 = 20.5K annual flow, not too far off.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
I do wonder how the U.S. would have fared in its last few invasions if Russia was providing targeting intelligence and advanced weaponry to our enemies the way we are in Ukraine. Maybe better than the Russians, but I expect much higher casualties than we actually experienced.
BadCivilization
9mo ago
At least one case was publicized: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10222207/Virginia-cop-fired-anonymously-donating-25-Kyle-Rittenhouse-fund-demands-job-back.html
The donation actually was supposed to be anonymous but the donor list was exposed by hackers and The Guardian ran an article about the donors.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
This becomes untrue if democracy is sufficiently local.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
supporting Serbia against NATO (as best Russia could at that point)
If the U.S. was not acting as a hegemon against Russia, NATO would not have been helping Albania annex part of Serbia in the first place. (Ironically, in pretty much the same way Russia is now trying to annex parts of Ukraine but with less historical justification.)
BadCivilization
1yr ago
Read that as Contrapoints at first and was very confused by the description
BadCivilization
4mo ago
If you want to keep up the weights, buy a foldable bench. I have one by Flybird I picked up for $50 on Craigslist. Fits easily in a closet when not being used.
This is a decent program: https://old.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/2e79y4/dumbbell_ppl_proposed_alternative_to_dumbbell/
However, a few months off is not a big deal. Your strength and muscle will bounce back quickly. Maybe a good time to explore some other forms of exercise.
BadCivilization
7mo ago
Would you apply that logic to Afghanistan refusing to extradite Osama bin Laden?
BadCivilization
1yr ago
I would start with just finasteride, the sooner the better. It prevents the conversion of testosterone to DHT in your blood. The hairs on your head miniturize and eventually die in response to high levels of DHT. Once the follicles are too far gone, you can't bring them back. There are potential side effects, but they are almost always reversible if you stop taking it.
The reason to avoid other treatments like Minoxidil at first is to see if the finasteride is working. You may not need anything else if you respond well enough. On the other hand, if your hair continues to get worse on just finasteride it might take stronger anti-DHT medication such as dutasteride.
People who only use Minoxidil usually see a temporary improvement in hair thickness, but because it doesn't address the root cause of thinning they keep losing hair. Think of it as a multiplier for the number of living follicles left on your head.
Edit: Getting finasteride is very easy these days through online pharmacies, although you can probably get it cheaper if you go to an actual doctor. But you might have bad luck getting a doctor to prescribe it. Many don't think baldness is a serious problem so they think any chance of side effects is a reason to not prescribe.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
this is the regular reminder that the leaded US embassy phone call from Euromaidan was a discussion of who and how to approach for inclusion to a stable government after Yanukovych's offer
This is even worse than your eliding over the violence that forced Yanukovich to flee. It's obvious to anyone who reads the transcript that the U.S. was telling their Ukrainian puppets who to install after the coup.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
How much are you making now?
What range MBA are you looking at? Top 10 schools close to guarantee a good salary but admissions are tough, tuition cost will be six figures, and you would need to relocate for 2 years.
BadCivilization
1yr ago
Well, some people eat chicken sashimi.
Poultry generally has a high risk of salmonella and to be sure it is safe most people cook it to a high internal temperature. But not everyone agrees. For a more moderate perspective, see acclaimed chef James Peterson who says a properly roast chicken will be pink in some places but it's probably fine if it's internal.
I don't see how Tucker Carlson could have been fired over the Dominion Lawsuit because he wasn't the one pushing the allegedly defamatory allegations. They were mostly on Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo's shows, and Bartiromo still has a job.
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