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Texas is freedom land

9 followers   follows 3 users  
joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC 

				
User ID: 647


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
netstack


								

								

								
								
									
								
								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Texas is freedom land

				
				
				

				

					9 followers  

					follows 3 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 17:27:40 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 647


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Oh. Oh, duh. Yeah, I didn’t even think of that as advance. To me, it’s the end of the interaction.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone tip in advance.


But if that were the case, yeah, it’s a race to the bottom the other way.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Has it shifted?


I personally see a lot more concerns about our communities, our kids. Maybe it’s metastasized, but the idea started out with parents.


I’m obviously biased: my cohort is old enough to have kids, but young enough that most of them aren’t in school. Peak iPad risk.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think you might need to be a priest.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Hello, and welcome (perhaps) to the Motte.


Please familiarize yourself with the rules.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I can’t imagine that they score the same on overall level of violence.


More importantly for public perception, though, none of the Woodstock deaths happened in the front row. On camera.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
“Late” can be used like “mature,” I think. Stable in its development. Perhaps ossified or stagnant, even.


I agree that most people using the term are more interested in prophesying the end of capitalist systems. They’ve been doing so since before Marx himself. He framed it as “tendency of rate of profit to fall”; under that metric, “late stage” would mean “relatively low rate of profit.”


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If only!


When only some people tip, they get to play a little prisoner’s dilemma. Those who pay the surcharge reduce the cost of labor to the employer, and thus the cost to any free riders. In turn, the non-tippers benefit themselves (and harm the employee) more than they inconvenience the employer.


From each according to “how much do I want to be (seen as) an asshole, today?”


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Huh. That wasn’t how I remembered Salesman at all. The parts that stuck with me were


    

  1. Tying one’s self-image to a job means that when you become obsolete, you’re doubly screwed.
    2. 

  2. Old people shouldn’t be allowed to drive.
    3. 



Which makes it more of a counter-cultural paean than a revenge fantasy. I fit it into the canon as part of the general AP Lit introduction to the cynical. I should do a post, sometime, on how that fits into a broader schema of critique and novelty in media.


At the same time, your reading makes obvious sense. Incentive for teachers, at least.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Damn you. Now I have to ban myself.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That book sounds awesome.


I’ll repeat my recommendation for Thunder Below!, a sub captain’s insane account of combat patrols in the west and North Pacific. Like many memoirs, it’s more concerned with the tactical than the strategic, but that’s a bit different for the commander of a boat. Spoilers: When they run out of ships to sink, they land a party on Japan and blow up a train.


I also greatly enjoyed Massie’s Castles of Steel. It’s much more concerned with British and German procurement and doctrine, but in the second half, it gives a great explanation of the politics of “unrestricted submarine warfare.” America was really the elephant in the room. There’s a quote from Teddy Roosevelt saying if Wilson doesn’t stand up for shipping, he’d flay him alive. I believe him.


I have a couple of Civil War stories in my queue. Planning to cover any of those?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Damn you. Now that that secret is out, I have to ban both of them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
After Canticle, I wanted something less bleak, so I tried Will Cuppy’s The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody. It’s a series of pop-history biographical vignettes written in the 40s. Honestly not as funny or as bizarre as I was expecting. The authorial voice is something like a washed-out Terry Pratchett, with footnotes and asides that just aren’t landing. I thought it might have been my familiarity with the subjects, but he’s gotten to Russians I don’t know, and I’m still not feeling it. Still, the book isn’t all that long, so I’ll probably stick it out.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Nice work!


Though…what’s the deal with the United States box east of Crete?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				For less capable people He wrote the Mahābhārata
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Really? The precise limits of duty have been explored by Western canon for at least as long. Even if you don’t count Achilles, surely Job demonstrated the importance of understanding one’s role.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the bulk of Jewish intellect






the bulk of their community






80% to MAGA




I dunno, it sure doesn’t sound like he was talking about the good ol’ boys.




time telling bundle of sticks from the UK




Ironically, I can’t seem to find it. Who are you hinting at?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If only he had a company dedicated to underground mining operations…


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Chemical rockets do a lot better in the worst case scenario for a rocket launch.


I agree that they’re too weak for the real extrasolar timelines.


If there was a bunch of fissile material sitting around in the asteroid belt, maybe that would be a good reason to get up there. Unfortunately, a cursory search tells me that it only got concentrated on Earth by some sort of geological distillation. Probably not available outside of gravity wells.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I mean, you can watch the same guy wishing for this deal turn around and accuse Jews of running their own blood libel. I could see how that would be a deal-breaker.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The obvious hypothesis would be that Jews are not, in fact, a hivemind capable of making deals collectively.


Israel can do what it wants, but it actually doesn’t control the ADL or random donors. And the Republican Party has spent long enough pissing those individuals off that it can’t expect a sudden reversal.


I suppose I also think it’s wrong to describe “the left” as a monolith for similar reasons.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I do not get the impression that most Trump supporters care if he is lying.


That said, I would also expect his administration to close ranks in whatever way helps him save face. Perhaps there will be a Tweet explaining our foreign policy.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You mean a monk?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The word “trove” always makes me think of pirates. Did they find these using ground-penetrating radar, too?


Joking aside, I seem to recall you consistently going to bat for Russia. I have a hard time imagining you criticizing them for their tactics. Perhaps there’s some other group where you’d apply this standard? Do you subscribe to the case for reparations?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Lots of countries have hit below their weight for centuries.


A cursory glance suggests that Iran did pretty well for itself…until it had to compete with Tsarist Russia.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
South Africa was a strange, strange case. The collapse of apartheid meant that the former government was suddenly very motivated to remove its nuclear capabilities. Not sure those circumstances are present in Iran. Good video about it here.


That said, I agree that nuclear (or WMD) inspection is at least theoretically possible. The industrial capacity isn’t as dual-purpose as something like a chemical plant, right?