NewCharlesInCharge
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User ID: 89
NewCharlesInCharge
1yr ago
They already had a sidearm that was plenty sufficient for engaging unarmed children and senior citizens.
NewCharlesInCharge
1yr ago
That doesn't seem like there's any material benefit except perhaps to LNG suppliers, am I missing anything?
The status quo already greatly favored the United States. Neither Russia nor China were posing any threat to American interests. If it's all about posturing and letting everyone know who's the big dog, I don't think anyone could have forecast with any certainty that Russia could be held off by Ukrainian forces. We'd just been defeated by the Taliban and to sink billions into Ukraine and be defeated there as well would further the idea that America isn't such a formidable opponent.
A prosperous Russia seems far better for Europe and the world than a Russia with serious fears of collapse. Mutually assured destruction doesn't work if one party's destruction is already a foregone conclusion. At that point you're relying on Putin to care about American lives, and why would he?
A collapsed Russia also greatly increases the likelihood that someone spirits away a nuclear weapon and later detonates in an American city.
NewCharlesInCharge
1yr ago
Fermite on its own, no. I don't know how much energy would be suddenly released by burning a hole in a pressurized pipeline, though.
NewCharlesInCharge
1yr ago
When evaluating this I recommend comparing to some approximation of the whole market rather than up / down. "Up over 3 years" is a very low bar. The S&P 500 is up 30% over that time period.
NewCharlesInCharge
1yr ago
The role the FDA played in the delay isn't quite clear. Pfizer revised their protocol after discussion with the FDA, but there's no evidence that this was politically motivated. Protocols get revised sometimes.
Their decision to halt testing samples seems to have no other explanation except to delay any announcement of progress until after the election.
Had they not decided to halt testing of samples, they would have met their revised 62 case threshold prior to the election. Had they not submitted for approval at that point it would have been more obvious that they were dragging their feet.
NewCharlesInCharge
9d ago
I would like to see some kind of personal liability for legislators that are clearly flouting previous rulings. You shouldn't be able to use the state to deprive citizens of their rights with complete immunity.
NewCharlesInCharge
9d ago
Huh, I don't know where I'd heard it but it looks like I'm 100% wrong. Thanks for the correction.
NewCharlesInCharge
5mo ago
Perhaps it’s a higher incidence of sexual deviance coupled with a low awareness or care that putting that deviance on display will have negative social consequences.
NewCharlesInCharge
6mo ago
lobotomy : lobectomy :: phalloplasty : ?
NewCharlesInCharge
7mo ago
I should remember to be humbled by my opinion in February 2022 that the Biden administration was blustering for some political advantage rather than responding to a real threat. Though I still maintain a small chance that this was itself statecraft aimed at kicking off hostilities: to very publicly tell Putin not to invade, when Putin had yet to broadcast a desire to invade, you change the scenario such that not invading is submission to the Americans. Moving forces to the border could have plausibly been bluster. I don't know if we've seen insider accounts that show invasion was the plan all along for weeks or months prior.
My great hope is that the incentives for Chinese leadership are such that they know playing a long peaceful game is in their best interest, and kicking the can on military conflict will be to their advantage for decades to come. My worry is that the United States knows this too, and will try its best to have a military conflict while it perceives the odds are in its favor. I wouldn't rule out a false flag operation.
NewCharlesInCharge
7mo ago
My read is that not ruling out military options differs little from US policy on maintaining the option of a nuclear first strike. As a matter of strategy you don't want to broadcast exactly how much you'll allow or what your response will be. To do otherwise means adversaries toeing right up to your red line, or even worse, mildly crossing it and either forcing a response or proving you toothless.
NewCharlesInCharge
8mo ago
Doubtful on Job. He endured his first few trials without much complaint, but then had a lot of understandable anguish and despair.
I’d say stoicism is more compatible with the gospels and epistles of the New Testament. There’s just a wealth of verses about enduring suffering, exercising self control, and reasoning.
Christ himself set a stoic example in voluntarily submitting to the cross. Even as he asked God the Father to spare him that trial, he accepted his role and did not engage in self pity.
Romans 5:3-5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 - Test everything; hold on to what is good.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 - “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
Titus 2:11-12 - “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”
2 Peter 1:5-7 - “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”
James 1:2-4 - “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 - “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Timothy 2:3 - “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”
Hebrews 12:1-3 - “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
NewCharlesInCharge
8mo ago
I didn't make any normative statements.
NewCharlesInCharge
9mo ago
Given the available evidence of non-believers that have converted, what makes you so confident you'll never change? I don't think you've really engaged with the faith, the objections you raise are shallow. Maybe you engaged with a hollow version of the faith.
I, too, used to be an edgy Internet atheist. I'm now on the path to Catholic baptism.
NewCharlesInCharge
10mo ago
I forgot that top tier schools have interviews. My state schools did not.
NewCharlesInCharge
1yr ago
I had no idea that the same post was speculating on possible corruption as well.
It's almost as if reframing it in maximally silly terms will allow the non-kooky bits to be ignored.
NewCharlesInCharge
1yr ago
See my last paragraph, I'm explicitly not arguing that the protestors are planted. The young radical Muslim who sets off a fake bomb the FBI gave him isn't planted. It's far easier to network and influence locals that already have a negative view of the government than to import actors.
There are about 400,000 Taiwanese nationals living in China.
NewCharlesInCharge
1yr ago
It probably would look very different, but not necessarily more friendly.
Democracies are vulnerable to demagoguery and there's plenty of genuine grievances for a Chinese demagogue to get people riled up about.
NewCharlesInCharge
1yr ago
Did they teach the phonetic symbols but not the letter combinations that would most commonly produce them?
NewCharlesInCharge
1mo ago
Marry your girlfriend and have children. Join a church and raise your children according to its teachings.
NewCharlesInCharge
2mo ago
As a foreigner there’s not really a status ladder for you to climb. You’re can be an English teacher which is becoming kind of looked down on, be married into a Chinese family and be part of their network, or be neither and just be a foreign curiosity.
For material comforts and modern convenience I’d prefer China to the other two. There’s no Amazon equivalent in Cuba, and I’m guessing the internet connectivity is poor. The Chinese firewall is annoying but easily traversed.
Though you’re right that Spanish is definitely easier for an English speaker to pick up than Chinese.
NewCharlesInCharge
2mo ago
He's been in jail for three years. How long does it take to turn a prison guard when you have the CIA's budget?
NewCharlesInCharge
3mo ago
As a former Facebooker I share this sentiment. Personalized ads are better than non-personalized. Sometimes I actually find something nice through personalized ads.
They don't butter my bread anymore and I still believe this.
Is publishing a website speech?
What if my website is merely a proxy to another site?
What if I inject a header that insults Congress into every HTTP response?
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