JeSuisCharlie
Sumner, Hebdo, Kirk
Some times Charlie was in the trees.
User ID: 4009
In addition to the observations of @VoxelVexillologist, I don't think Florida man (or Florida woman for that matter) would be pussy-footing around with all this "plausible deniability" and "I'm not touching you" nonsense. Instead I imagine that some variant of "hurricane rules" would be in effect.
You feel that I do not understand and I feel that you are not listening.
You say that our relationship has been irreparably damaged by trump‘s threats and insults. I would say that our relationship has been deteriorating a while now. Trump's "threats and insults" are not the cause of that damage, they are the effect of a relationship that was already critically damaged.
Europe, or rather Europe's leadership chose to cozy up to Russia and China while taking American friendship for granted, and they laughed at us when we tried to warn them of the dangers. Europe has flat-out told us on multiple occasions that they do not view us as friends and allies but as an economic resource. Recall that back in 2020 when when Congress was talking about closing US bases in Germany, the German government objected on the grounds that it would disrupt the local economies of cities like Rammstein and Stuttgart, not on grounds of security.
As a result, there is sincere doubt within the US about Europe's value as an ally. If Chinese missiles started raining down on US cities tomorrow would Europe cut themselves off from Chinese trade? If the last 5 years are any indication, the answer would appear to be no. Even if Europe were in a position to offer aid to the US in such circumstances (which is what all this talk about NATO readiness is really about) would there be the inclination? Again, if the last 5 years are any indication, the answer would appear to be no.
JeSuisCharlie
Sumner, Hebdo, Kirk
1mo ago
For whatever reason only the left has the will.
I believe it would be more accurate to say that democrats have convinced themselves that only the left has the will and that's what makes these incidents are so shocking to them.
Recall that one of the first unguarded reactions captured from one of the protestors present at the Renee Good shooting was "WTF! Why would you have real bullets?" These people are so coddled that it never occurred to them that force might be met with force.
JeSuisCharlie
Sumner, Hebdo, Kirk
1mo ago
That's not a difference, it is a similarity. Minnesota and New York are two of the more adamant "sanctuary" states and that's why ICE's attention is on them and not states like Texas.
As I keep saying, the Feds don't need to enforce compliance on states that are already cooperating.
ICE is in Minneapolis for the same reason federal troops were deployed to Arkansas and Alabama back when segregation was the hot-button issue of the day.
The City and State Leadership have openly broadcast their intent to not only not enforce but actively defy federal immigration law, and this is happening in the context of what appears to be rampant fraud and abuse of federal programs.
In short, the feds don't need to enforce the law on states that are already cooperating.
It basically is.
The "Fair Witness" bit from Stranger in a Strange Land is often used as a training example when teaching students how to give and take depositions.
If the shooting of Charlie Kirk is this generation's Charles Sumner, Minneapolis is turning into this generation's Kansas territory.
If I had a dime for every time affluent white Democrats tried to kick-off a Civil War over whether they should be allowed to exploit a racial underclass I would have two dimes. Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.
What a strange statement.
It's fairly standard legalese. Depositions often read like this because the point is to state only that which can be demonstrated in court.
- Questioner: What color is that house?
- Deposee: This side of the house appears to be light brown.
It's also why they hedge in the latter part with bits like "this looks like" and "Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers".
JeSuisCharlie
Sumner, Hebdo, Kirk
1mo ago
The Europeans are the parents in this analogy in part because you (that is Europe) made us. We were amalgamation of Anglo, French, Dutch, and Spanish colonists before we became "The United States" and to some extant we still are. There is still a great deal of pride in that ancestry and a strong cultural affinity even today.
But pride and affinity don't pay the bills. You ask "how on earth are the Europeans the parents in this analogy" and then go on to take the parents side. Maybe it's my own experience sharing a family with addicts and alcoholics but I am much less inclined to simply dismiss the kids as "stupid" out of hand, and maybe that's why I feel the post is relevant.
What was in the "pages and pages" that her sons wrote her? Why did it count as "abuse" and not as an explanation?
Pointing out that Europe is a weak and unreliable ally who's values often clash with ours, and who is at this very moment actively funding the ongoing slaughter in Ukraine through their purchases of Russian energy and goods is not "abuse" it is an explanation.
You might not like what was said, or who said it, but that doesn't change the fact that you know the reason why many in the US are cooling towards Europe, but Just like the parents in that post you avoid acknowledging it.
To quote the closing monologue...
Saying, "I don't understand the problem" when you really mean, "I don't agree this is a problem" will not make the problem go away.
A bit up-thread @lollol linked Issendai's deep-dive into the world of estranged parents' forums, I can't help but see echoes of it here.
Trump has been a public figure for 30+ years. he wrote an entire book about how "there are no friends or foes at the negotiating table, only competing interests", about the necessity of "doing away with polite fictions in favor of honest dialog", and the utility of using intentionally erratic and absurd behavior to to sus out hidden motives and insecurities. "Slam the door and see who flinches" is how he put it.
...and a lot of commentors, including both yourself and the OP, seem to be tying yourselves in cognitive knots to avoid considering the possibility that he might have actually meant what he said. They keep going on about how Trump is being abusive and spitting in their face but they're ultimately acting the role of the toxic parent who refuses to accept the fact that their children have moved out of the house and now have careers and families of their own. They keep trying to play the "So long as you live under my roof and I'm paying the bills you need to shut up and do as I say" card, but that's just the thing, you have not been paying the bills.
They are both edge-lords from affluent liberal backgrounds who spend most of their time posting on social media about how populism is fucking up the world, and how it is people like them who represent the "true right".
I'm also pretty sure that they are both closeted homosexuals, which is neither here nor there, but it would help explain a lot of otherwise incongruous behavior.
US blue tribe is something like 75% of your 'intelligent' people.
I think that the fact that you feel comfortable expressing this is further evidence that @FCfromSSC is correct to view this conflict as an existential one.
Intelligent or not, they're still actively hostile towards the founding principles of this nation and must be fought if the Republic is to endure.
JeSuisCharlie
Sumner, Hebdo, Kirk
1mo ago
It's not a "MAGA spiral" it's more of a Hanania/Fuentes spiral. The median individual here is an Affluent White Liberal who is starting to feel anxious about the decline of their tribe in both population and relative status.
It's varied for different President and VP pairs this is absolutely the dynamic for Trump and Vance. @DirtyWaterHotDog sees that Vance isn't going to Davos and assumes that he must be getting shunned for having a brown wife. It doesn't occur to him to ask where Vance is going because he already has a conclusion that flatters his sensibilities.
Meanwhile Vance is off to Minnesota to shake hands with Law-Enforcement officers, wave the flag for the red team, and serve a subpoena to Mayor Frey. Simple fact is that the World Economic Forum is a side show as far as most Americans are concerned.
The last time the Germans unified Europe, the Americans invaded and crushed them.
...and there are those that would say that the greatest tragedy of mid-20th century is that we (the West) didn't finish the job. We not only allowed half of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact to survive, we allowed them to profit handsomely from their war of conquest, and continue to wage war against us for an additional half-century.
I do not think Vance is being discarded so much as he is serving a very specific role. He is the Sargent Major of Trump's officer corps. IE the "top-kick", the guy who's job it is to get in people's faces and say the things you can't say for reasons of diplomacy.
His altercations with Zelensky and Scholz, along with his statements in the wake of Charlie Kirk's killing were all representative of this.
Seriously, who is the boogeyman for right wingers right now?
Gavin Newsom and Tim Walz get a lot of air-time as the presumptive democratic nominees for 2028 but internally most of the concern is focused on liberal AGs like Letitia James, Keith Ellison, and Jay Jones, along with the various PAC, NGOs and non-profits that back them. The lawfare against Trump during his four years in the wilderness was something of wake-up call/radicalizing moment for a lot of mid level Republicans, and I don't think that anyone in the Democratic party has really grasped just how bad a look the liberal reaction to the Charlie Kirk and Annunciation Catholic Church shootings was for them.
JeSuisCharlie
Sumner, Hebdo, Kirk
1mo ago
Ross drew his gun because Good was being placed under arrest and refusing to cooperate, that's why the other officer kept telling her to exit vehicle.
JeSuisCharlie
Sumner, Hebdo, Kirk
1mo ago
It's not AI being smart that will be the problem, it's humans being stupid.
A good friend of mine helped write one of the first functional multi-layer perceptrons as a post-grad and then went on to be one of the core developers behind Dall-E. He got himself banned from LessWrong and a bunch of other rationalist-adjacent spaces for arguing that AI alignment wasn't a problem with AI so much as a problem with Silicon Valley being full of autists and sociopaths.
Having spent some time in the SV VC world, I kind of get it.
I don't think you're wildly incompetent, just the opposite.
I suspect that most of the AI-stans who are not actively shilling their own product are either working bullshit jobs, or they are much like your one co-worker who thinks that being able to write bad code (or spam the court with shoddy motions) quickly constitutes an increase in "productivity".
JeSuisCharlie
Sumner, Hebdo, Kirk
1mo ago
If your experience has been anything like mine, I imagine that you've found that LLMs are useful for generating boiler-plate material but worse than useless for anything where you need to be worried about accurate citations, or having your arguments picked apart by an opposing counsel. Here's the thing though, I imagine that coding is much like the law in that a competent practitioner doesn't actually need all that much help generating boiler-plate material, you just pull the relevant template from your folder and fill in the required information.
JeSuisCharlie
Sumner, Hebdo, Kirk
1mo ago
Most of the border between Canada and the State of Maine is crossable on foot. Same for Vermont, New Hampshire and the Eastern portion of New York. The "completely unfordable bodies of water" IE the great lakes and St Lawrence Seaway are exceptions rather than the norm.
JeSuisCharlie
Sumner, Hebdo, Kirk
1mo ago
I could see Canada providing a sympathetic staging ground for blue aligned anti-populists.
The troubles had the advantage of a land border with a state that was broadly sympathetic with the struggle and reasonably off limits to incursions.
Are you trying to argue that a proper shooting war between "red" and "blue" would not include a land border?
I think the Trump administration may be skeptical of the FBI's loyalties.
More options
Context Copy link