netstack
Texas is freedom land
No bio...
User ID: 647
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
so what?
Accusations of LARPing are accusations of insincerity. It depends on what you think the LARPer is really after.
In the original usage, the professed belief is "I can throw lightning bolts." There's no secret genuine belief that can make it look good.
In the Wager example, the professed belief is "I believe in God," but the genuine belief is "I should believe in God." These are pretty compatible, so calling it a LARP loses its sting. Your defense has worked.
Let's say I'm professing "I believe in God," except I'm running a con and my true belief is "You should give me your tithe money." If I'm called out, I can't exactly use "fake it 'til you make it!" as a defense. The fact that my project is LARP-y is very relevant.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Just because something is wrong (or unproven, or partisan…) doesn’t mean it’s not Quality™.
I say this despite thinking “we can’t solve problem X until we’ve solved (harder) problem Y” converges on one of the most infamous pastimes of policy debate. Those college students probably wouldn’t win any points if their problem Y was right-coded, but there is a structure against which they may be graded.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Cuts aren't just the absence of a hike. They can be painted as hypocritical, irresponsible, buying votes. I think Democrats saw the cuts as a possible wedge between Trump and the deficit hawks.
I also suspect that the benefits of the original cuts were, in fact, concentrated in the wealthy. See table 3 here. It also definitely benefited corporations. This wasn't contested by Republicans, who preferred to justify it as stimulating investment.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Actually, I’d say there’s a better case for itemizing tariffs than sales tax, since the latter doesn’t actually give you any choice. The state of Texas is going to get its cut no matter which goods Amazon sells to Texans.
This does make me wonder if tobacco companies are prohibited, in some way, from itemizing vice taxes. I’d have thought they would be eager to remind customers why they’re paying more.
For that matter, where do all these people who think taxes being paid is a bad thing go
They don’t think that. They think having to pay a tax is a bad thing. What happens after that is handwaved.
Nor do they really go anywhere. If a traditional tax hike was on the table, they’d flip out about it, too. But Trump is a populist, and has demonstrated less than zero interest in the normal legislative process, so that’s a non-starter.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
The good news is that people who double down on that line tend to run headfirst into three or four other rules already.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Eh, we did end up developing the Special Relationship. There’s no country on earth with a better track record of influencing American opinion.
My mid-1800s history is a bit rustier, but I understand slave economics were rather entangled with the British market, since textile industrialization was in full swing. The Confederates were certainly hoping for more direct support from their trade partners.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
You’re right. I’m used to seeing “security dilemma” deployed in reference to existential threats, since that’s usually when people are most motivated to find an excuse. It seems clear that the academic definition includes any sort of military advantage.
Would you agree that Ukraine reaching out to NATO was driven by a security dilemma? Or that Western support for Ukraine was likewise justified by the tangible security benefits of thousands of dead Russians?
There’s also the Taiwan situation. Increased Chinese influence in the Pacific is, of course, a threat to American hegemony. Does that make a preemptive deployment to Taiwan rational?
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
First, my whole point was that a "security dilemma" refers to last-resort measures and tangible existential threats, which are the exact situations where nuclear weapons change the calculus.
Second, I want to argue with you, not your pet robot.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
I'm confused about how Canadian regions are divided. Which ridings are you counting? Central Newfoundland, Terra Nova, Avalon, Long Range, Labrador...what am I missing?
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
- You can embed links by enclosing the link text in brackets: “[[1]](https://www.umass.edu/political-science/about/reports/2025-8)” becomes “[1]”.
- A summary of links is not, on its own, enough substance for a top-level comment. Please try to add some of your own commentary, theorizing, etc.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Don’t worry, just comment as a reply to the main post. It’s the first text box that has a “Comment” button.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
I don’t think you’re using “security dilemma” correctly.
The traditional dilemma is a race to the bottom. Either you gobble up your neighbor or you’re the next meal for someone who consumed theirs. In this model, Russia would invade Ukraine because it needs it to have a chance against NATO. But this is obviously false when Russia has a much, much stronger deterrent already.
(I have seen the argument that NATO missiles launched from Ukraine would somehow invalidate that deterrent, but I don’t find it very convincing.)
More importantly, it should be symmetric, right? Doesn’t NATO have an incentive to keep Russian missiles off its borders? Why aren’t the Baltics clamoring for NATO to invade?
The post-Cold-War international order avoided the security dilemma because it wasn’t a peer competition. America won, we set up the rules which benefited us, and we got what we wanted without having to invade Russia. We don’t have to invade neighbors to feel secure. Maybe that's become less true in the last decade or two. It’s still a hole in the pro-Russian apologetics.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Hello, and welcome to the Motte.
We do require that culture war content remains in the Culture War thread. Since I don’t expect this discussion to go very far without someone bringing up a certain spectre, I’m going to ask that you repost this as a top-level comment in that thread.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Right now the biggest rhetorical weapon against young adults is this idea that your brain isn't finished developing until 25.
Uh, no it’s not. I’m sure it gets cited in the occasional thinkpiece, but how much does that translate into zoomers’ decisions? Have you ever seen an adult say, “sorry, I can’t, my brain isn’t developed enough”?
Today’s twentysomethings are getting out of college with alarming debt and questionable prospects. They’re looking at rampant inflation of credentials, let alone prices. Cars are expensive. Housing ie worse. Insurance is fucked. There is a sense that someone is benefiting and they know it can’t be them.
COVID-era remote school and work derailed their social lives. Social media, a poor surrogate at the best of times, metastasized into something actively discouraging. They are constantly reminded that the world is struggling, with the people in charge malicious and/or incapable. No matter what they believe, they are reassured that half the country hates them and will dismantle anything they like on principle.
Given a choice, more of them are choosing to hunker down and hope for better times.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
I finished Alastair Reynold’s Absolution Gap. There was a lot to like, but it was extremely confused as a novel. More thoughts to follow.
Currently reading The Fool Lieutenant, Bob Edlin’s autobiography of his time with the Army Rangers. Writing is a bit more amateurish than some of the memoirs I’ve read. This doesn’t detract from the charm and/or awe. We’re talking about a guy who was shot in both legs on Omaha Beach because he wouldn’t stay down after the first one. Then he spent two or three months in the hospital before shipping himself back to his unit and participating in the rest of the liberation of France. Tremendous badass.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
…no?
Media lives or dies on novelty, so good writers can combine all sorts of things. Sometimes they even play them straight, no pun intended, and do back and forth commentary with other works in a genre.
But maybe I’m just confused. I’d have described the premise as “grizzled survivalist shoots his way across the wasteland to protect little girl.”
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2mo ago
Wow.
Is it normal for ICE to bring along a pair of FBI officers and another pair of CBP guys? Were they expecting trouble? Either way, it paid off. Doesn’t sound like they’d have caught the guy without an extra officer who hadn’t been recognized.
The only way I can see this falling apart is if the “courtroom deputy” turned out to be lying. But enough of his testimony is confirmed that it seems awfully unlikely.
Specific groups, specific people. “Some of these folks” is not enough. Show us stats, show us prominent individuals telling people to opt out. If you can’t, consider whether the generalization you’re making actually holds up.
It’s been like a week since I reminded you that mocking one phrase is not a sufficient argument. Mocking zero phrases is not any better. One day ban this time.
Not to beat a dead horse, but that is a less than convincing defense.
Gotta love vintage Scott.
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