arsv
4mo ago
Taking "qualified" literally: proven ability (experience) to function as a HQ officer, at the very least.
In civilian terms, he's a foreman turned TV host who's been appointed to be a CEO of a multinational corp.
arsv
4mo ago
Nothing says his behavior was unprofessional. He just said things which are "inappropriate" as described by who knows whom based on whatever definition of what's appropriate. Most likely not even in a professional setting, if I'm getting the "deleted pseudonym" part right.
arsv
5mo ago
conferred with all of the intel of the American Empire
You mean he asked the guys who are about to get Tulsi Gabbard for a boss after putting her on shitlist? And whom Trump generally disrespects? I can only imagine how eager they are to work full throttle for the occasion.
If I were Trump, I would be asking people from my shadow cabinet, or whatever passes for one. But those people do not wield the full intel power of the US right now, and haven't for at least four years.
the population isn’t exactly in hiding
In an active warzone? With your upper estimate of roughly 1-in-5 dead?! Yes the civilians wll be hiding.
It’s the Lancet...
Lancet means civilian medics, which in Gaza means palestinian authorities, directly or indirectly. See recent discussion about UNRWA. Trump's data, wherever it came from, it's not from the palestinians almost for sure. You risk getting large error, possibly large than the effect you'll looking from, just because it's not the same source. Palestinians, I would guess, have incentives to over-count. External observation, which you assume Trump relies on, will likely undercount.
arsv
5mo ago
Bold move to assume all unaccounted for are dead. There's "known to have left" (100k), there's "known to have died" (around 50k in this case apparently), and the rest are "fate unknown" who can be in either group. And that's assuming the initial numbers (2.3M and 1.7M) are correct and comparable in the first place.
arsv
5mo ago
The only other option is having said helicopters fly over all the residential and administrative stuff in the area. "Along the river and under the planes" is likely the least-bad choice, not because it's good but because the other options are worse.
The real question is why there's a military helicopter base in Washington DC, but there's probably a reason for that as well.
arsv
5mo ago
The plane is not at fault most likely, it had the "right of way" and wasn't really supposed to be looking for stray helicopters coming in from weird angles in what is supposed to be a controlled airspace.
It's the helicopter that ended up where it shouldn't be, due to the crew failing to see the airplane, miscommunication between the helicopter and the ATC, or the ATC screwing up badly. The preliminary independent analysis (aka internet talk) seems to hint that among other things, the ATC did most likely screw up.
arsv
5mo ago
What CDU did is pretty much the only sensible answer to the rise of AfD. Parties like AfD only get votes because there's an issue or issues that the established parties stubbornly refuse to tackle. A major party agreeing to take on the issue kills the reason to vote AfD. Conversely, taking a CW stance on the issue like the left side typically does means keeping AfD high in the polls.
Not sure if it will affect the upcoming elections much, too late and too sharp of a turn, but in the longer run, if the stance is not reversed, AfD will likely fade away. Unless it will manage to pick up another issue to replace immigration.
The interesting question is the long run, beyond a few years. There's a reason why Germany needs immigrant workforce.
arsv
6mo ago
Is there proof that Georgescu knew ...
If I'm reading it right, it doesn't matter if he knew or not. The law in question seems to be https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/73672, in particular Chapter IV (Capitolul IV).
Do campaign finance statutes include provisions for cancelling elections if money is underreported?
The brief statement mentioned an article from the constitution which says basically "the elections must be held according to the law" and the law (above) says "blah blah blah prohibited". Looks like there are no specific provisions for this particular case, and it's up to the court to figure out what to do now.
My understanding is that the court decided that the election was not held according to the law, and therefore doesn't count as a valid election, and the country needs a valid election to elect a president. With no explicit shortcuts, the country now has to go through the full election procedure. Again, that's just my reading of the situation so far. The full statement from the court should, I guess, state the logic of the decision, maybe. Shrug emote.
Because tbh it just kind of seems like he didn't think he was gonna win, either.
Seems to be so, yeah.
arsv
6mo ago
only that Georgescu's campaign recieved improper (illegal?) assistance from Russian media operations.
The legal cause for the cancellation seems to be undeclared campaign funding.
At least that's what I'm getting at this point.
arsv
7mo ago
Think again, motherfucker! For, immediately, on the front page (no account)
How does that actually compare to Twitter at this point in time? There's no "front page (no account)" on Twitter anymore, you have to log in to do just about anything and once you're logged in, it's your personalized feed.
And I think this question goes a bit deeper than it might look. Bluesky does try to show you a representative slice of the overall community there. Sure it's probably tuned or curated or whatever, but it's clearly designed to look like it's representative. Twitter, on the other hand, takes effort to not let you know what the userbase in general is like. And it was one of the first things implemented after Elon took over.
and wondering if perhaps Bluesky would be better?
It sure can be different. My feed is something like 90% German right now /s
arsv
7mo ago
Getting into doomer territory, ... They (the car makers) might also get public transit banned
Not sure why he's making a distinction between self-driving cars and public transit. Self-driving cars are a form of public transit. They are not private vehicles, they owned and operated in a way that's quite similar to busses. In a way, a self-driving car is just a better bus.
There are issues that are specific to self-driving cars due to their personal nature compared to conventional mass transit, which are mostly related to privacy. It's much easier to track you in your "personal bus" than it is in a bus with 20+ other people. But he barely touches on it, and also, conventional mass transit would be quickly losing much of the advantage in that respect anyway due to technological progress in surveillance technology.
The US? Probably not, the US has been quietly maintaining status quo amid open discussion of very much not peaceful actions in case China would actually attempt to enforce the sole legal government part.
arsv
7mo ago
Putin ready to end Ukraine war
Putin has been ready to end the war since day 1 of the war, and likely before day 1 as well.
Having one side surrender is a definite way to end a war.
Hamas calls for end to war
Hamas would be happy to end the war any day since about October 8, 2023.
It's very nice when you do what Hamas did on Oct 7, get a slap on the wrist and just walk away.
China wants to work peacefully with us
China would certainly want to stay at peace with the US while, for instance, invading Taiwan.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to not be on the receiving end of a trade war, tariffs or sanctions.
Especially when you are doing something that should get you sanctioned.
The part missing in all of these is some kind of a trade in return, for instance China dropping all claims on Taiwan.
This is backwards I believe. The problem was not with homosexuals donating blood. The initial association with homosexuals delayed the realization that the disease is in fact not specific to homosexuals and should be expected to pop up among the general public. The vast majority of blood donors are not homosexual, but it took too much time to realize that all of them are potential vectors and should be treated as such.
Nil; also, mostly irrelevant. Here again, it's not the gays as such. It's the failure to admit that the disease is not limited to them. Which is turn would require talking openly about their lifestyle making them a perfect breeding ground for a new STD and consequently a public health hazard, very much a CW topic at the time.
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