The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
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User ID: 174
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
16m ago
Kavanaugh's issue isn't partisanship, it's that he overweights "disruption" to an even greater extent than Roberts does. We saw this when he agreed that the CDC rent freeze was unconstitutional and allowed it anyway, and we see it here with him complaining about the practical effects of refunds.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
18hr ago
Of course, even that would not save him from having to pay back the tariffs people already paid, because anything else would be retroactive.
Theres no rule against retroactive tariffs and taxes, only retroactive criminal law.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
18hr ago
· Edited 18hr ago
This would still leave him with having to pay back some 200 billion dollars, I think.
No, since SCOTUS didn't say the money had to be refunded, that'll be ANOTHER court case. And he'll probably claim the new tariffs are retroactive, which will be yet another case.
And nobody would assume that SCOTUS would let get Trump away with his next harebrained tariff scheme
All commentators seem to agree the Section 122 tariffs are on solid ground for at least 150 days. After that, Congress has to approve to renew... but Trump could just declare another emergency if they're not, and if anyone objects... well, it's ANOTHER court case.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
19hr ago
· Edited 19hr ago
The across the board tariffs are back already, under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. And the per-country tariffs are on their way back. Trump really has learned from his opposition. Just drag out unfavorable decisions, then make a small change and start the process all over again.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
Hegseth is a weak man. In the other sense of the term. But the weapons designers mostly aren't in the military; they're civilians at defense contractors.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
Yeah, a "mission specialist" is an astronaut. I didn't work with any astronauts. He was one of the guys you see sitting behind desks in the old NASA launch videos.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
Everyone who has thought about the policy design says that you should just give people money.
Sure. That way when they give people money and the recipients spend it on booze and drugs and are still "needy", the proponents can use that to push for an increase in the amount of money given.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
The people you are describing are mostly tools, or footsoldiers if you like. They apply the power but they don't make the decisions.
The elite that modern right-populists are attacking pretty explicitly includes anyone with a degree from a selective university
Certainly not. People from some of the most selective universities, but not nearly all from a selective university.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
Lockheed is juicing their numbers when they say that 20% of their workforce "has a direct connection to the military" but you should assume that former DoD personnel are overrepresented there.
Definitely. It's been a long time but when I was in the industry we had quite a few retired military. Some were doing a second career in nerding and nerd-wrangling, others had always been nerds (e.g. one had also been a NASA mission control specialist) and were now on the civilian side. I've run into far fewer since I got out of defense.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
The 1% don't get power; maybe the 0.01%.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
If it's truly post-scarcity, you just make a tiered society. The only difference between them is access to other humans. The violent addicts get all the drugs, food, and medical care (provided by robots and/or masochists, presumably) they desire, and the normal people don't ever have to see them or their effects. The beautiful people live in their own mirror-covered world away from the depredations of the glance of uggles, etc.
Of course, we'll never actually GET post-scarcity, but if we did the problem would be solved.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
The "weak men" aren't skinny nerds designing weapons. Skinny nerds designing Juiceros maybe; skinny nerd NEETs playing videogames definitely.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
Are you getting some government benefits that could be gatekept in this way?
It doesn't matter; they'll make something up that might rhyme if you stretch it, and insist that it's the same but worse. Much as when trying to discuss robbery and burglarly someone will chime in and say that no really "wage theft" is the real problem, or as in this discussion this
Typical things used might be the mortgage-interest tax deduction, or policing (a "subsidy" to the wealthy and safe areas -- no, this doesn't make sense on a number of levels), or schools (also doesn't make sense on a number of levels, but doesn't matter), etc.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
No, what the environmentalists want is for none of this to happen. Whatever means you come up with, they will find a reason to object.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
It doesn't matter, because the reason you can't build reservoirs is the same reason you can't build desalination plants: environmentalists.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
If you've got fallen comrades in software development
-
Probably you need better electricians or
-
Maybe you actually ARE warriors.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
If you're not going to be following Leviticus, there's no point in worrying about Ezekiel.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
Once you've accepted that political and social realities require adopting a progressive taxation system and social safety net, the existence of some form of absurdity like this is assured.
Modus ponens, modus tollens.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
I see you throwing up a big wall of text
Yeah, there's a reason for that, and it involves matrix multiplication.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
3d ago
Interesting military history question - who were the last warriors not to get their arses kicked by soldiers?
The Taliban.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
3d ago
Did they object because the person was a trans woman or because they were arguing for proto-SJW/woke ideas?
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
3d ago
It's an Italian surname, but it's common in Argentina and Brazil also. Of course whether a guy named "Dorgan" is appropriating an Italian-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, or Spanish (well, Rioplatenese) speaking "Esposito" is hard to determine.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
3d ago
I'm taking decadence as being 'population are relatively wealthy with few material concerns'.
That's "good times". Decadence, in the meme, follows that.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
3d ago
That's okay, those points don't appear on the curve.
Yes, they do, that's why there's that silly loop.
Nah. You pick a better-behaved function, and it won't be an issue.
Spherical geometry is what it is.
The same distortion that causes you to measure a 300 mile distance as a 302 mile arc causes you to measure a 250 mile distance as an 850 mile spiral.
These are different effects. One is the distortion caused by curvature, and the other is the fact that the surface is finite. You get silly answers if you ask for great circle distances longer than the circumference, too.
I don't think this point is that compelling. A power that can be controlled precisely is greater than a power that can only be used completely or not at all, so a tariff that can go from 0 to a percentage that is indistinguishable than a ban is actually a greater power than to merely ban or not.
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