TIRM
1d ago
Then they did it to white Americans 20 years later with the fentanyl epidemic and blamed China (and now recently Venezuela). People with their heads firmly lodged up their asses refer to this as a “conspiracy theory”
Something about proactively providing evidence for inflammatory claims.
TIRM
1d ago
they even have the latest tech gadgets, though I have no idea how they pull that off
Under the table cash work. Or straight up black market work. Selling tax free single cigarettes, weed, whatever. Double dipping government benefits and some irregular work.
TIRM
1d ago
I think we should integrate over a person's life. You took a brief break in working due to the reckless actions of EcoHealth Alliance. That shouldn't negate the entirety of the rest of your life.
Otherwise every full time student or sick person taking a break to recover is a parasite. That seems too harsh to always be judging on an instantaneous basis. We need integrals, not derivatives for this measurement.
TIRM
1d ago
Also the half million capital gains tax exemption for a married couple selling their primary residence. Quarter million for single people.
An elderly couple selling their house and downsizing are getting an incredible cash payout with little or maybe no taxation.
For decades there have been synthetic THC pills approved for medicinal use such as Marinol. THC is FDA approved. So strange that extracting THC from marijuana is Schedule 1 but synthesizing it in a lab is not.
TIRM
3d ago
They'd have to really commit to it. It takes one click to turn on a VPN with an exit node in the US. There'd have to be a Great European Firewall.
TIRM
3d ago
The data wasn't "hacked" so much as "left on a public facing website". Not so much as a password protecting it. They left their dirty laundry in the street and 4chan had a giggle looking at it.
TIRM
3d ago
Sure, you can rather trivially copy American social media and phone apps. I've been to China a number of times and they did just that. American apps are banned. Equivalent Chinese apps are available for download if you have a Chinese mainland phone number and bank account.
There are European search engines. They collectively enjoy single digit percentage of European searches while American search engines take the other nearly 100%. Someday there will be commonly used American AI and EU regulators leeching a bit of value from them in the form of fines. There will be some combination of none or deeply unpopular European AI that approximately no one would voluntarily use as an alternative to American tech.
TIRM
3d ago
They enjoy selectively enforcing it to fine American tech companies billions. I consider that obvious parasitism. They can't compete with American tech, but they can siphon off value and assert that they are the regulatory leader of something they are incapable of making themselves. They're already proudly stating they will be the global regulatory leader for AI also. I'm sure the American and Chinese researchers are thrilled.
Literally "Yes [practically] all men!" That's correct. "Locker room talk" is real.
There's a Chappell Show sketch about a woman who develops psychic powers and hears men's thoughts. She is comedically horrified at every man she meets including a middle school boy. You are resembling that character a bit.
TIRM
12d ago
The rightmost and "our beliefs" may be different things. Extrapolating your views to the most extreme failure state possible is not endorsing hyperbolic extremism.
If a Young Democrat said we need more government control over the economy and another one sarcastically replied "okay, Chairman Mao", I would not interpret that as literal support for Maoist economic policies.
Firing tank shells into Churches
That is actually oppression. If done intentionally and regularly.
On July 17, 2025, part of an Israeli tank shell hit the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military expressed regret for the incident and launched an investigation. On July 23, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that the church was "accidentally hit due to an unintentional deviation of munitions" during operational activity.
Okay. So a one-off accident. The actual definition of collateral damage. If anyone is ever going to fire a tank gun or drop a bomb, then there will be some failure rate in targeting. An accident is not what I would call oppression.
Googling more I see other collateral damage examples. A church water tank is broken while the Israelis battle jihadists, etc. The expected occasional screw up when firing tanks and missile striking urban regions. Regrettable, but not oppression.
occupying Christian territory
Between the alternatives of Jewish Israeli control or Palestinian jihadist Islamic control, there's no "Christian territory" under discussion. I get that the small Christian minority is in a tough spot. They don't have territory. If the crusades had turned out differently we'd be meaningfully discussing "Christian territory" in the region. But we aren't.
backing jihadists in Syria
Wisely arming non-jihadist rebel factions in Syria in order to counter Iranian influence. Not that Christians would flourish if Iranian-backed jihadist rebel factions got the upper hand. Arming the mildest rebels as a counter against the Islamist extremists is not oppressing Christians.
TIRM
14d ago
Israel is continuing to oppress Christians
Can we please proactively provide evidence for inflammatory claims? Or at least a clear explanation of what manner of oppression is occurring?
I know public proselytizing is illegal in Israel. I suppose the claimed oppression is something far harsher than that.
TIRM
15d ago
The non-union contractors I've dealt with will add new plumbing and cut a vent hole in a ceiling. Specifically the same guy did both for me. Even the American ones quoted two prices: one higher price with permits and second lower price without permits. They aren't strict rule followers.
TIRM
15d ago
23% of the total units, dedicated to low-income households
I live in a nice area specifically to get away from "low income households". This is such a poison pill.
TIRM
16d ago
There are some quite specialized CEOs. John J. Ray III is the grim reaper for dying companies. He extracts what value is left and pays creditors as best he can. He did this for Enron and FTX. Not that Starbucks is in such dire situations, but their CEO may indeed be tasked with managing and slowing decline, trying to preserve what he can.
TIRM
16d ago
You can transfer them to an etrade account or similar and sell them using the web interface. The mechanics of self-service stock selling are trivial.
Taxes can be automatically handled by selling a portion of the stock at vest for taxes. This is again a button on a brokerage web interface.
TIRM
16d ago
Yeah I shop regularly at Costco. There's no "walkable Costco infrastructure". I'm not carrying a small bag with one day of groceries. I use my car instead.
TIRM
16d ago
Pre-car urban design is indeed quite different from post-car urban design. The US had walkable "streetcar suburbs" in the early 20th century. Most middle class and above people left them with great haste once car based suburbs were invented and they degenerated into slums.
I think we should legalize building more such places and I'm very skeptical about how many and what sorts of people will occupy them. They may turn into yet more brighted urban slums. But we should accept that risk rather than building so little so rarely in cities.
If you try to productively use an empty spot of remote land, they'll suddenly recall it is sacred.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2015/12/peter-apo-let-there-be-light-on-the-tmt/
The unsupported assertions that it has always been sacred will be credulously repeated by journalists and bootstrap a legally protected "sacred" spot that cannot be mined or have a telescope on it. Major news publications will assert that the spot is sacred since ancient times. The lack belief of sacredness predating the attempt to build something on the remote empty spot doesn't concern journalists or activists.
TIRM
17d ago
Indeed, but, when we try something similar, such as a lithium mine in the wasteland around Thacker Pass, Nevada, there are years of protests. Indigenous sacred land everywhere.
Unlike the rest of us who are "raw dogging the air" in her words.
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