netstack
Texas is freedom land
No bio...
User ID: 647
netstack
Texas is freedom land
17hr ago
Since I haven’t played silksong, I guess I’ll hijack this as a general video game thread.
Nebulous: Fleet Command is a sci-fi naval tactics game modeled after Cold War/modern hardware. You equip your fleet in the editor and then take that list into battles. Right now, that’s almost always 4v4 against other players, though a campaign mode is coming with the next big update.
I like you get to build towards a particular strategy and then try to play it out. I like that the micro has a relatively low floor; ships and weapons are unwieldy enough that you generally have to commit to your course of action. I think the visual design and the sound effects are great. And I particularly enjoy the existence of a game which cares about ELINT and RCS. For professional reasons, of course.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
1d ago
Getting bombed by the U.S. does not make you a failed state. Getting bombed by a U.S. ally, even less so.
I think this is a questionable decision, but not a particularly novel one.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
1d ago
We aren’t.
Other commenters have asked the important meta-questions like “why do you think your socials are representative?” and “who exactly are you planning on shooting?”
So I’ll engage purely on Catholic terms.
- Is there a competent authority organizing your violence? No, there’s no credible counterpart to the existing government. To satisfy this one, you’d be better off joining the army or at least the police.
- Is there a realistic possibility of success? The caveats about an organized authority ought to apply here. But you’ve also got to have a goal which is actually compatible with whatever you’re trying. There are remarkably few which benefit from acts of terrorism.
- Is the cause just? I consider this the free space on your bingo card.
- Is it your last resort? Ask yourself whether Republican control of the White House, Supreme Court, both houses of Congress, 28 state legislatures and 27 state governors represents a total collapse of your legal avenues.
One in four criteria. Make of that what you will.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
1d ago
The PRC also can’t do anything about us. Descending into civil strife gives them strictly more options.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
1d ago
netstack
Texas is freedom land
1d ago
Would you count journalists? A lot of these are personal, or credibly "wrong place wrong time," but there are a couple that stand out. Especially if you don't rule out mass killings. I guess I could imagine someone with a (real or, more likely, imagined) grudge against Kirk.
Commenters are going to say they hated him because he told the truth. Because he was somehow uniquely "dangerous" to a nebulous leftist project. But if that were enough, this wouldn't be so unusual.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
1d ago
Fuck.
I learned about this by overhearing a hushed conversation between coworkers. Feels different than if I’d just seen the firehose on social media.
Have they not caught the shooter yet? Sites reported a “person of interest” in custody. If that’s not the killer, I’m guessing it’s whoever asked a gun question seconds before he was killed. Hell of a coincidence.
I guess I’ll register a corresponding prediction. The shooter won’t turn out to be trans. Synchronizing an assassination to a political question is strictly more insane than just killing someone. As such, the specific question probably wasn’t relevant, and I’m falling back on base rates.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2d ago
This is still not the place for drive-by culture warring.
Your last warning for this exact behavior was last month. Your last ban was further back—but it was also the exact same behavior.
Three day ban, this time. Please show some restraint.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2d ago
You are making the pronouns an issue. Would it be any less ideological if the NYT abandoned their style guide, just this once?
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2d ago
That’s actually what happened almost immediately after Prohibition, yeah. Some areas allowed the sale of 3% beer.
Today there are still Byzantine regulations on which stores can sell what percentages.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2d ago
This is why we had segregation.
No, it is blatantly not.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
2d ago
…but had better access to nutrition, sanitation and medicine. I think data is all over the place. Even 1% per birth adds up over a life with 5-8 births!
More to the point, I don’t think a woman has to die in childbirth for it to make her life much more difficult. Assuming that the past was so much easier is hopelessly naive.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
3d ago
So their argument is: anyone who would be addicted already is, and the only effect of keeping the drugs illegal is that criminals are in charge of selling and producing them instead of capitalists/entrepreneurs who are above the law, and that there will be less stuff that is spiked/laced because of regulations.
A pretty extreme version of the position, maybe. It doesn't have to be the "only" effect to be worth it. Just the biggest one. Every dollar siphoned from the cartels reduces their capacity. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, as they say.
I think the strongest counterarguments start by observing that people don't handle legal drugs that well. There are something like 15 million alcohol addicts in the States. Not drinkers, addicts. Would legal fentanyl really be less harmful? Or consider tobacco culture. Kids get ahold of this stuff and try it as an edgy symbol of rebellion. Some of them develop the habit. Is that dynamic going to be improved in any way by harder drugs?
netstack
Texas is freedom land
3d ago
This wildly underestimates the amount of labor and stress involved in subsistence agriculture.
Did you know that the a bunch of historical measurement units were traditionally defined in terms of ploughing speed? One furlong for an eight-ox team to plough until they needed a break. Use that time to set up for the next furrow. Repeat for an entire day and you have an acre. Repeat for an entire ploughing season and you have your effective limits on land.
Do this twice a year if you don’t want to starve. Spend the rest planting, weeding, foraging, harvesting, haymaking, shearing, milking, breeding, slaughtering, repairing, digging, building, etc., or you’ll still starve. Have your crops pillaged by a passing army and starve anyway.
And God forbid you’re a woman. You avoid some of those backbreaking tasks, but get your own set instead. Not to mention the joys of giving birth in the era before anesthetics or antibiotics.
Seriously. The past was much harsher than you’re imagining.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
3d ago
No, because “no real domestic economy” means cheap labor supply means more competition for tourist dollars.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
3d ago
Who the hell steals vegetables?
Statistics are predictably elusive, but all I could find indicated that meat, cheese, and infant formula were the most popular stolen foods. Excluding alcohol, that is.
I also object to the idea that vulnerability to theft makes anything cheap, but I recognize that was tongue in cheek.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
3d ago
The economics of air travel are not immediately obvious. It’s not just distance/duration. Route availability and the density of the endpoints are even more important because airplanes and their infrastructure are so expensive. I wouldn’t think this is a particular Thai advantage.
Though it is funny to see bitching about airline prices followed by a complaint that it’s too cheap. And you’re not even worried that it’s a bubble or something—no, you’re scared of visa jumpers? That’s less credible than the traditional complaints about tourists. I feel confident that the US-UK routes are not a significant contribution to either country’s illegal immigrants.
Your story makes me think of the stereotypical “gap year” amongst privileged college students. Only in that case, any insights about America’s bizarre economy are far more likely to grant an affinity for socialism. It’s enough to make me wonder how your policy prescription looks.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4d ago
I am skeptical of your general argument, yes.
I’d like to think this skepticism is rational rather than reflexive. It’s certainly not intended as commentary on your erudition.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4d ago
That was the one that got you? Not the comparison between slothful, short-sighted coconut eaters and intelligent, prosocial, moral northerners?
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4d ago
Well, this was a thread asking about Trump. And I saw a lot of answers I figured were wrong. Cunningham’s law kicked in.
I definitely let it get too personal in the second half. I started the comment as an observation about the gut-deep sentiment behind other Trump haters. It ended up begging people to understand my own frustrations. Not my best work.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4d ago
enforcement of migration laws is not violence
Yes, it definitely is. Legitimate violence is still violence. I don’t mean that as an aspersion, and I’m not convinced @WandererintheWilderness did either. I was surprised to see you take it as such. Would you have objected if he said “elected not to use force” instead?
compassion without consideration…is not compassion.
Yes, it is…sometimes. The obvious example would be charitable giving, or other acts where the cost is presumed to fall mostly on the giver. I would extend this to a number of general social courtesies. If I forgive someone for a mistake, it’s not because I amortized the social cost of not deterring another offense.
More to the point, I think pro-immigration advocates have considered the costs to others, and insist they’re small. Since the migrant busses were subsidized by Texas and Florida Republicans, the recipients could assign blame without reconsidering that belief.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
4d ago
I don’t think “right-wing” is quite adequate.
If you’re looking for a flaw, there’s some serious sleight of hand going on with the concept of “selection.” It equivocates between slow, statistical pressures which can “improve” a stock and violent, stochastic ones which can “degrade” it almost immediately. Traits are assigned to these categories based, apparently, on agreement with the author’s politics. I think most traits don’t actually fit that model. Combine that with the traditional evopsych generalizations, and I think the argument kind of falls apart.
More broadly, after last week’s pop sexism, these essays are looking more and more like working down a list of reactionary grievances. Start with a general theory, then tailor it to each talking point; since different fractions of one’s readership hold more affinity towards one or another, more people end up nodding along. A real big-tent coalition.
If this is true, subsequent entries will continue to pick and choose popular CW issues to cast in this pseudo-Darwinist framework. The next target appears to be globalism. I’ll admit a little surprise; I normally expect this process to take a few shots at trans issues first. Did I miss them in the previous pages?
Depends on the user.
There are a few where it’s just “ugh, not that Austin Powers guy again.”
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