functor
5hr ago
He wasn't a random civilian but a high up political figure. Clearly the US considers those to be valid targets for assassination.
functor
6hr ago
There used to be rules of wars and strict protocol surrounding them. The republicans have firmly rejected this notion even saying that they would militarily attack the Hague if an American was tried for war crimes. The republicans and mainstream democrats have completely rejected the idea of the Geneva convention.
If your concept is "I can kill however I want because I am special and rules don't apply to me" you can't be shocked when someone else follows your line of reasoning. The view of Afghan villagers weren't taken into consideration when their weddings were blown up and this is fine according to Kirk with friends. But he and his world view has to be taken into consideration when he gets wacked.
Either we have rules of engagement that are enforced globally or we have personal preferences. He lived and died by the latter view.
Software is a major employeer in Europe. In Stockholm programmer is the most common job for men. The numbers vary wildly when I google but there are millions of developers in the EU.
The issue is that the devs in Europe don't end up in fields with high growth potential. Many end up writing code for car companies, banks and government. There are lots of devs working for traditional industries or maintaining a billing system. To a great extent it is a mindset issue. Our financial elites try to run tech companies as if they were running a steel mill and end up with great software for their industrial products. However, it doesn't scale. A hospital record keeping system isn't going to turn into a trillion Euro company.
Much of the blame should be placed upon the business community. There really needs to be two business schools, one for tech and one for traditional industries. The mindset among investor in Europe is so far from the silicon valley mindset.
If someone tried to pitch open AI to a European investor they would be focused on how it can be sold to mid sized companies by a sales team and what the profit margin of that would be. Then they might pitch in 500k Euros.
functor
13hr ago
Funny how the political class that think assassinating people with drones should be done regularly are so opposed to assassinations all of a sudden.
functor
21hr ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_Sycamore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_state-sponsored_terrorism
They aren't like the Israelis in Iran who don't wear uniforms or the Israelis who attacked a hospital in Gaza while dressed as civilians.
functor
21hr ago
The US gave massive support to various jihadist groups in Syria. Also the US has backed terrorists in Libya.
Like the US bombing the middle east almost constantly since 2001? The endless drone strikes, backing jihadists and starving civilians.
Hamas fighters do wear uniforms. Israel is a genocidal nation that is illegally occupying territory. Any action against it is not only karmic, it is self defence.
functor
22hr ago
The US has a long history of backing and supporting terrorists.
Killing representatives in a diplomatic process is abhorrent. Palestinians are a part in an armed conflict. They are legal combatants. Even if it was a real terrorist gorup like the Israeli backed Al Nusra front they can be negotiated with. Nearly all armed conflicts end with negotiations.
functor
1d ago
The US has a long history of killing people, toppling leaders, backing terrorists and simply stealing resources from countries. This behaviour is hardly new or different for the US. The US doesn't believe in an equal relationship between countries. The US has its imperial interests which are enforced by bombing and sanctions.
The main difference today is China and the rise of a multipolar world. Countries that are simply treated too poorly by the US will jump ship and join team China. China hasn't even come remotely close to doing the damage the US has done in latin America and the middle east. China is less interested in how us non Chinese, aka barbarians, run our countries. For many countries China is a bigger trade partner than the US is. With cheap drone and missile tech even Yemen can have some proper military bite towards the US.
Israel continues to be a gigantic liability for the US and China's greatest strategic asset in the region.
functor
1d ago
The US elite has effectively decided that you are getting a mass surveillance state, wars in the middle east and outrageously expensive medical care regardless of who you vote for. The US political establishment is far more loyal to their donors than their constituents.
The Second Amendment is not about hunting and burglars, it is about defence against the state. Clearly the US establishment has overstepped their bounds far beyond what the founding fathers would have considered reasonable for a Second Amendment solution. Had they known about the level of mass surveillance or the current level of taxation they would most definitely supported a Second Amendment solution.
functor
2d ago
Is the mainstream right badge something people actually want except for donors? He was pro warmongering in the middle east, prop wall street and pro the medical industrial complex draining average Americans.
Interestingly enough Fuentes has gained decent traction on tiktok among minorities and leftists because he is fundamentally opposed to elite politics. His coverage of Middle Eastern policies resonate with many in the left.
functor
2d ago
He was also a defender of Israel's assassinations so he was pro gun and pro assassination.
The US elite is too protected from the consequences of their actions. The ones who voted for the Iraq war should be sent to the front. The defund the police proponents should be forced to walk the streets of st Louis at night without protection. The elites need to learn that they will be held accountable.
functor
5d ago
Swedish gun owner:
I have never really had to deal with them. I filled in my application online and a few weeks later I got a license in the mail. I have bought four guns from a store and in those cases the staff in the store filled out the forms and I just waited a few min for them to do the paperwork before I signed it.
A lawyer I know got fired from the police where he was processing licenses due to him being a gun lover and asking too many questions. The lawyers who work there not at all knowledgeable about guns and mainly go after what the gun looks like. They are obsessed with guns looking old.
For my handguns I had to get my shooting club to sign my applications. They required me to spend a few weekends working on the range and use their position of power to get applicants to work for free. However, I genuinely like the officials and the gun club. They are a trustworthy, friendly and have excellent taste in hobbies. They would make the best neighbours. A big part of the Swedish sport shooting licensing system is built on the clubs filtering people and only co signing applications for people they want as members. This is an effective way to filter people who seem like trouble but have clean records. On the other hand, nepotism is rampant and there is little equality before the law as our system gives licenses based on personal relationships to gun club chairmen.
When I had more time I used to help train people to meet the gun club requirements for licenses and I helped people get gun licenses. I want more people to get guns.
functor
5d ago
The man is not Bulgarian, he is a gypsy. The media is trying to make it sound like it is a white European who was involved when it wasn't.
functor
11d ago
There needs to be a differentiation between the regime and then nation. The country can continue on with a new regime, the regime can't survive without the nation. Lots of countries have changed regime. The US can survive with a different form of government.
The US needs to avoid going bankrupt. It needs to avoid being over-run by migrants. The US should worry less about institutional restraints and realize that the US needs to reform radically to survive. The checks and balances arguments are like people in Russia in 1912 and France in 1785 talking about the need to respect the old ways. If France had been able to overcome people worrying about formal procedures in 1785 they could very well have avoided the revolution.
The US won't be able to solve its debt crisis if all procedures and checks and balances have to be followed.
functor
14d ago
20% still isn't that bad. Opening a hair dressing shop in order to launder money is a lot more work.
The biggest issue with OF money laundering is that there is no cash payment.
functor
17d ago
I have a metal water bottle which got squashed. I filled it with water and put it in the freezer and it popped back out.
functor
20d ago
Libertarianism as the only right wing ideology is a flawed view of the left/right spectrum. Most right wing governments have historically been involved in the economy and securing essential resources for the nation. Mercantilism, fascism, monarchy etc are completely compatible with a nationalistic economic policy. If anything the liberal factions have often been aligned with leftist groups against nationalists and traditionalists.
functor
25d ago
The true benchmark is GDP. If LLMs truely can boost productivity in most tasks except for pure manual labour we would see GDP roaring. If we saw a 10-40% increase in productivity among the majority of the labour force it would be like an industrial revolution on steroids. We are seeing lackluster economic growth, clearly production isn't booming.
Some how tech has the ability to radically change how people work and provide people with amazing tools without boosting productivity much. We went from type writers to Word to cloud services that allow us to share documents instantly across continents. We really haven't seen a matching boom in productivity. The amount of office workers wasn't slashed with the propagation of Email, excel, google search or CRM-systems.
The alliance between Ukrainians cosplaying WWII Germans and American far left woke people is one of the most interesting coalitions in modern history. I don't think we should expect them to be completely up to date with the current memes in the related sphere.
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