TIRM
2yr ago
Tarrant wasn't engaging in optimal behavior. He was putting on as sensational a show as possible.
I don't dispute that it is physically possible to empty a shotgun into a group of innocent people and then switch to a rifle. I dispute the relative operational efficacy of such a plan.
Tarrant did just that. That's not at all evidence that switching long arms rather than reloading is a good plan. That's not a data point that contradicts me.
I wish you could spend a day shooting with me. Your misunderstanding would wash away.
TIRM
2yr ago
I like bitter rich tastes. I don't like the gross sickly sweet taste of sweetened coffee. Call it an affectation if you must, but I take my coffee black.
TIRM
27d ago
And eating junk food is no substitute for real meals cooked with healthy ingredients. Some people eat the junk.
When the rich guy inevitably develops a major health problem, he will pay to have it treated. A pineapple picker lacks this. Easy to survive problems become deadly when you are poor.
TIRM
27d ago
actively fund the destruction of everything that used to give life meaning
That's certainly one way to portray working.
TIRM
1mo ago
Yes, the Cambodian genocide and the American Civil War are examples of a significant minority of society getting stamped out. But you can't do that easily. And that was a large majority crushing a relatively small minority.
If you tried to do that to a significant majority (around 70% support for first trimester abortion) maybe it is you that would be taken before a firing squad.
TIRM
1mo ago
With this standard, you would need to firing squad a significant portion of society. I believe a majority. Most people support a limited "right" to abortion. You can't easily go against most people that hard.
TIRM
3mo ago
Okay. Strike that one sentence from my post. The rest is true and my position doesn't change.
Those H1B men aren't taking all the women. Our reproductive success or lack of it doesn't hinge on half a million H1B workers hyper-concentrated in a few major cities. They're a small and irrelevant group in this matter. I've never been denied a relationship because an Indian guy took her first. That's not a problem for American men.
I know a number of American men who married immigrant women and have kids with them. Those particular immigrants were apparently to those men's reproductive advantage. Not to generalize too much from a few people I personally know.
There are some guys who appear to excessively like a certain sort of woman. Only dating Hispanics or Asians or something. I'm not that way, but I'm not going to judge them. If they are overcome with lust for women who traveled 5000 miles to live in the US, so be it. Now that I'm older, I know older couples and those guys typically married one of those women. I'm calling that success according to their preferences.
TIRM
10mo ago
Attacks on infrastructure are not a good idea
Russia endlessly attacks Ukrainian infrastructure. It appears to be a great idea and in fact key to winning wars.
Don't you think it's up to Europeans to decide who they're going to buy fuel from ?
Pipelines are entirely undefesible. So let's say any nation with the desire has a veto on this decision.
And yes, Europe is the most feckless and counterproductive allies the US could have. A parasite society hiding under our defense umbrella, using our hard-found pharmaceuticals without paying to support them and endlessly funding our enemies.
Who would be drone bombing American LNG plants? Not Europe for sure. We've seen their complete inability and extreme passivity in this conflict. You think Russia would do it? I suppose it is possible. But the US has historically been extremely shielded from direct counterattack like that. 9/11 being the one exception.
You blew up their natural gas pipeline.
Ukrainians did that. But I advocate the US government destroying Russian pipelines. Not all of them all at once, but little by little to help wean Europeans off if Russian fuel. The pipelines are impossible to defend. Every now and then a bomb could go off or the pressure could be set wrong causing an explosion and the US could deny responsibility.
This happened back in the Cold War. Every now and then misfortune would strike an oil pipe. Turns out it was the CIA.
TIRM
1yr ago
We don't know that. Could have been that. Could have been some partisan loon.
TIRM
1yr ago
So you could go after Twitter e.g. because Musk posted unflattering claims about Ukrainian war and the only reason for that is that he's Russian influenced.
I really doubt that is what 'rival influenced' means. "We sold it to one of our other subsidiaries or partners, so it isn't us technically doing it" has to be banned for this to be sensible.
Not to mention going after Twitter for foreign policy views is a glaring 1st Ammendment issue. I think this is a fantasy.
TIRM
1yr ago
The Lord (Word of God) clearly tells Moses that the ancient Israelites should stone
child sacrificing Molech worshipersadulterous women
This is literally the Pharisees in John 8:5. You are now quoting the Pharisees and advocating their view in plain opposition to Jesus.
Which I guess is fine in some non-Christian sense. But both Christians and modern Jews don't follow these rules. And Christians can point to Jesus dunking on the people who tried to "gotcha" him with the laws of Moses.
TIRM
1yr ago
hurts savers
Yes. If your savings are literally a pile of bills under your mattress. But if your savings are invested in some non-cash manner, let's say an index fund for example, then you aren't hurt as a saver.
TIRM
1yr ago
trying to run as a war hero when he was anything but
I can't believe I'm leaping to Kerry's defense, of all people, but based on my memories of reviewing his service record, he's much closer to war hero than pretender.
They really did him dirty.
TIRM
1yr ago
I read political news and vaguely have some sense that he is famous for his corruption. But of course the media lies like the lying liars they are. Maybe I fell for their tricks.
But as a terminal political news addict, I refuse to personally review the evidence in this state-level impeachment case. I will bow out of that task and also not take back any claims regarding the power of naked partisanship. Which this might be.
Or maybe the prosecutors were such bumbling morons that only all Democrats and a few select Republicans would lower themselves to performatively vote guilty. And the other Republicans who voted to acquit were honestly voting their conscience.
I guess that's possible. I'm not so invested in Texas state politics that I will be critically evaluating the primary sources.
TIRM
1yr ago
Ken Paxton acquitted:
On one hand yes. But, only Republicans voted to acquit and a mix of Republicans and Democrats voted to convict. I accept this as a display of partisan power rather than a display of innocence.
The old joke that a politician in a majority district could only lose if they were caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl comes to mind. Corrupt partisan supported by most of his fellows. Nothing more or less.
The fact that some Republicans turned on him is a black mark, but ultimately irrelevant.
TIRM
2yr ago
He, in fact, looked far more vulnerable when he had to reload his rifle compared to when he had to chuck away an empty shotgun to present a loaded rifle.
Don't over-learn from one example. Reloading is massively faster than throwing away a long gun and drawing a second one. Tarrant be damned in many ways: he was doing the wrong thing and doing it wrong.
This whole discussion is so fundamentally wrong that I can only write it off as video game logic. I know I'm lapsing into "just trust me bro" territory, but this is just dumb. This isn't how it works. Learn to shoot and see how comically wrong this idea is.
TIRM
2yr ago
Then you believe a civilization that would extinct itself in one generation
Come now. Gay people are capable of reproduction. We are all familiar with the existence of sperm donation and surrogacy.
My negative reaction to their special comparison equating sex with animals and black people is downvoted. Not to take voting too seriously, but something a bit silly is happening for this one.
More options
Context Copy link