domain:furiouslyrotatingshapes.substack.com
Hadad
2m ago
As a lefty, can I have your support on having a robust social safety net? Because I guess the budget doesn't matter now.
You cannot have my support for your pet projects, no. I don't want to fund them.
Hoffmeister25
American Bukelismo Enthusiast
3m ago
Right, that and the fact that, as I understand it, the Iranian regime strictly bans Western music and most other Western cultural output, to the point where their people have to find bootleg version of American artists’ music. Yeah, very “friendly to Western culture.”
I'm honestly pretty confused as to how this got communicated so poorly, but you seem to be acting in good faith so I'll take responsibility for the miscommunication.
No, I see what you mean now. You're imagining a much more significant investment of resources into Iran than I've advocated, one that would meaningfully cripple us in the face of China. At no point would I suggest we drain ourselves (comparatively) dry.
There is no universe in which the USA is bombing TSMC facilities. I'm really not sure how I gave that impression, but to be clear that is not happening. There are allegedly "kill switches" in fabs to make the machines not work anymore in the event of an occupation.
No, I'm saying that's what is really keeping China out, and what our munitions would be better purposed for. We would never let them dominate the chip factories utterly, we'd absolutely destroy them. Whether that be kill switches or utter destruction. We can't 'conquer' China, or even do much to stop it absent nuclear armageddon. But Taiwan's much easier pickings. Better to destroy a resource than let an enemy seize it.
Tree
7m ago
Listing random problems does nothing to justify:
- your dire, ever-postponed predictions
- your proposed solutions
The woke have largely backed down from their most extreme positions during the summer of george, on BLM riots, covid restrictions, metoo nonsense, DEI, etc. And the anti-immigration position is getting a lot more play in the halls of power. I wouldn’t say it’s the best of all possible worlds yet, but it’s fine. In time, all problems can be solved.
You did say you were going to coerce me, or else the woke (earlier you) would coerce me. So it looked like it will be only the fault of people like you if I can no longer live in the peaceful modern vacuum. But sure, if you're willing to renounce coercion, I can do peaceful coexistence with anyone.
Hadad
8m ago
At no point does nuking Israel become better. The goal isn't to maximize some nebulous human flourishing, it's to keep nukes out of the hands of Islamic zealots.
chooky
11m ago
What does the existence of no fault divorce have to do with all of this? Your point seems like a slam dunk with just 1, 2 and 4.
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
13m ago
Why should Ted or Bush or anyone bother weighing up the pros and cons if God is on his side and will sort it out anyway?
You have perhaps heard the sayings "God helps those who help themselves" and "God is on the side with the superior firepower"?
MaiqTheTrue
Renrijra Krin
13m ago
I mean, ideally all of this would happen organically. Subculture is how you get new ideas, new insights. But because of modern technology and our understanding of psychology we managed to basically take artificial control over the engines of culture. Music used to come from seedy dive bars where local artists would work on their sound before being discovered by labels. They’d sound unique because the isolation from the mainstream music scene allowed them to experiment and invent new and interesting sounds. New ideas tend to come from the fringes where an idea can be worked on and perfected away from mainstream culture.
The internet and especially social media have changed all of this. Those hidden pockets of creativity are now put online where the concepts are put online and co-opted or destroyed before they can be refined enough to stand on their own. Worse, the internet has created a situation in which everyone is almost constantly being bombarded with content (read:propaganda) all the time. You think like everyone around you unless you take special care to unplug. But especially in politics, this means it’s almost impossible to come up with something new, unless you’re pretty much a radical. Everyone else is reading the same script, the one that doesn’t work anymore because it’s not 1982 anymore. Most of the apparatus of politics runs on inertia a dead system that ran on Consensus, on very carefully crafted campaigns and old tired bromides and ideas about politics that were invented for your grandparents or great grandparents. We have AI and fentanyl, we’re possibly approaching WW3, and our traditional ways of thinking about politics was laid down when digital clocks were the height of modern technology, Spock was on TV, and kids hid under their desks because the commies were going to nuke us.
Give me the radicals, even if they’re wrong. It’s the only defense against total stagnation and irrelevance.
RandomRanger
Just build nuclear plants!
15m ago
Well Chirac said that's what happened and he was on the phone with Bush.
I think it's strange and concerning that leaders of a nuclear superpower are using this apocalyptic, religious language regarding high-profile foreign policy. There are both deniable (Chirac and Trump stuff) and undeniable instances of this weirdness. Diplomats do not usually send back this kind of message to a head of state, Huckabee is a wildly inappropriate choice for ambassador but that's to be expected at this point.
I don't like Ted Cruz's support of Israel but it seems to be more than simply 'I've been paid off' or 'I know this is good for my political career', it's 'I am a true believer'. The latter has fewer limits on their enthusiasm and is more dangerous because of it.
Leaders should be reasoning in a sober, secular way, weighing up the pros and cons. When a CEO says 'God is guiding my hands' then it's a bit sus. Why should Ted or Bush or anyone bother weighing up the pros and cons if God is on his side and will sort it out anyway?
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
17m ago
How long are you going to keep doing this? Why can't you just put forward your positions and then defend them instead of constantly strawmanning your opponents? And no matter what you think, that is what you are doing to Natalie Winters. Well, aside from boosting her media profile. I'll admit, this was a unique variant, but that is still all you do, strawman your opponents and then demand they defend your insane understanding of their position. Cut it out for fucks sake.
and being so low-class the spacetime continuum bends under the enormous weight of the lack of class.
And being so low-class the spacetime continuum bends under the enormous weight of it.
And being so low-class the spacetime continuum bends under the enormous weight of all the trash.
And being so low-class the sheer inferiority warps the spacetime continuum.
And being so low-class the very air around them felt greasy.
What does lack of class weigh Alex?
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
18m ago
Iranians are friendlier to Western Civilization than Israelis.
If you skip over the whole batshit Islamic theocracy and the "Death to America"/"The Great Satan" thing
chooky
19m ago
One obvious move is to just get rid of the marriage penalty on taxes. But... here we are seriously looking at getting rid of taxes on tips.
hanikrummihundursvin
43m ago
I'm not sure where you are from but 'Bomb everything and then watch mass starvation, suffering and death whilst shrugging your shoulders saying 'Iran can't have nukes' sounds, at best, bizarre.
Like, at what point does nuking Israel just become a more humanitarian option to your proposals.
Vacuous predictions. That broken record keeps spinning.
Read a relationships thread here some time. Read similar conversations elsewhere. Observe the collapses in sex, relationships, marriages and fertility. Observe general attitudes to such modern marvels as the Dating App. Observe how men and women talk about each other, as a class. Observe the history of the #MeToo movement, and its deployment of unsustainable coercion and attempts to escalate to the police and jail to settle what it perceived to be failures of the previous sexual order, an order built and defined entirely by the Progressive sexual revolution. Observe the grooming gangs in the UK, the total failure of governments at all levels to do anything but pointedly ignore the problem, and contrast that with their heavy-handed efforts against anyone who refused to allow the subject to be quietly buried. Observe the number of Americans willing to endorse political murder of their opponents, the generally bleak outlook, the proliferation of black pills, the evident rise of extremism on all sides.
It is entirely possible that the above is not your problem. It seems unlikely to me that it will continue to not be your problem indefinitely.
Your life so far has been that of a zealot, flip-flopping from one extreme group to the next, fanning the flames of CW and even civil war wherever he went.
I do not mind personal criticisms. I do mind inaccuracy.
I've spent long portions of my life as a moderate by-the-book "none of this matters, let's just chill out and go to work and save and invest in the stock market and let the experts sort it all out." When I became an extremist, I have been the sort that points out that widespread endorsement of unrestrained, lawless mob violence in support of tyrannical and unaccountable government authority will end badly, that incentives are decisive, and that sooner or later reckless hatred will recoil to the ruin of those who wield it. And now I confine myself to attempting to warn people of the foolishness they are evidently stumbling toward.
always trying to force on others the one thing, or its opposite.
It's an evocative image, but the charge is baseless. I do not want to rule you. I do want to live in an orderly, structured environment, and I understand that this requires a non-trivial degree of coercion. There are many whose idea of an ordered, structured environment conflict with my own; we should each do our best to leave each other's communities alone, up to and including moving away from each other. To the extent that it is possible, I want to live in peace and plenty. To the extent that living in peace and plenty is not possible, I am pretty sure it is not the fault of people like me.
It would help to identify our enemies first. Iranians are friendlier to Western Civilization than Israelis.
hanikrummihundursvin
1hr ago
That would be a relevant point if we knew nothing about Iran. But we do know things about Iran so I don't see the need for games of analogy.
veqq
1hr ago
I would have guessed it's another Iraq, but it's two of them.
Iraq's population has nearly doubled since 2000, like Afghanistan and Gaza. So Iran is actually 4 2003 Iraqs.
Lizzardspawn
1hr ago
Doesn't really matter. That is the thing with shooting people - if the penalty is swift and inevitable you won't be forced to shoot too many of them.
AlexanderTurok
Alt-MSNBC
1hr ago
The goalposts moving past abortion would be a surprise to the million women who get abortions each year.
From American Conservative link, it's a good example of what I mean by the Online Right's poverty fetish:
It should go without saying that the success sequence as it is actually practiced in the United States is possible only because of artificial contraception. It is not love of chastity that leads the vast majority of Americans who attain it to “delay parenthood,” as the literature puts it, but the apparently successful attempt of pharmaceutical corporations to reduce the marital act to a sterile parody. Whatever virtues the average middle-class American couple exhibit by “delaying,” they are not natural ones. They are really showing us their disordered understanding of prudence, which has become a synonym for convenience.
{snip}
Which is why I say without hesitation that pregnancy outside wedlock is superior to the success sequence. While fornication is indeed a grave sin against chastity, it is not disordered. It is a natural act, albeit one taking place outside its proper context. Where the success sequence is parsimonious, elevating lust and the pursuit of wealth above other natural goods, pregnancy is liberal in the old-fashioned sense of the word, indeed by the standards of our professional class, even munificent. It involves the failings of youth and, by economy, the goods proper to it: heedlessness, generosity, and a kind of awe before creation, in which it quite literally participates.
veqq
1hr ago
if [Afghanistan] had only half their population
Afghanistan's population more than doubled during American occupation, from 20 to 42-5 million. The Gaza strip similarly went from 1 to 2.1 million, at the same time.
Hoffmeister25
American Bukelismo Enthusiast
1hr ago
Me: [looks at photo of Natalie Winters] “I would let her press my correspodent until my whole house is white, if you know what I mean!”
From outside it seems that all major sides of US political discourse are cursed with insanity of a special kind, that comes only for powerful and wealthy. You can't solve anything alone but participating in creating and shaping a subculture is the closest you can come to it. Yes, MAGA people are mostly retards, that should only motivate you to find a viable alternative and use them to your advantage. Neoliberal status quo forces are too entrenched for this, too fixed in their structure and institutions, you can't have a sensible centrist reform there, you need to dive into chaotic primordial soup of a radical variety. Movements quite often are turned on their head and completely transformed from inside, some small group in the right circumstances can capture the minds of hundreds of millions of people. Nobody expected the radical communists, the ISIS of their time, to come to power anywhere, much less the largest European state. Yudkowsky built a subculture alone, from some scraps in a cave and now it holds the hearts of many people who try to bring the singularity into existence. You shouldn't be BASEDtm, but you should still be based in the original meaning, trying to build a solid base for something better which can include not only sensible university educated people, but same unvaccinated retards and even the basement dwellers.
P. S. Looking at this, I think this comment feels disjointed and off topic to the op, but I will leave it as is because something in your text inspired me to write this, so why not let it exist
Shrike
1hr ago
It's built for precision strikes, not mass destruction (unless nukes).
Yes, the USAF is built for precision strikes, but the US builds guided bombs the way the Russians build artillery shells. We've made over half a million JDAM kits (although of course we've used a lot of them). Assuming a stockpile of around 200,000, we have roughly one precision guided-bomb for every squad in the Iranian military. That's without getting tapping our inventories of cruise missiles, guided missiles, guided and unguided rockets, or cannon ammo at all.
The MOP is a bespoke weapon designed to fill a small niche, and the fact that it has been procured in small numbers doesn't reflect on the broader state of the USAF's procurement of guided weapons.
No, the Muslims chanting death to America are not my friends, no matter how much you, I, or anyone else hate Jews.
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