domain:themotte.org
Primaprimaprima
...something all admit only "TRUMP", and the Trump Administration, can do.
4hr ago
I was more saying that the forum can be perceived as a "right wing secret club" because, for example, a feminist might consider some of the writings about feminism to be boo outgroup, only there are no feminists here.
To some extent this is grounded in the objective facts of the matter. We were chased off of two different subreddits because we allowed discussion of controversial views. The controversial views that the authorities took issue with were, invariably, right wing.
The mods try their best to be neutral but they’re only human. There is a set of consensus views here, that does affect the moderation and it affects how users perceive different types of posts, and that’s simply going to be an unavoidable fact of any discussion space you ever enter ever.
MathWizard
Good things are good
4hr ago
That's probably fine though, because the image you build in your head will be built on the implicit stereotypes that you derive from reading their words. Which means that if you subconsciously ascribe certain properties to someone here based on how you imagine they look, those properties will likely be accurate. You're essentially going Words -> Impression -> Imagined Appearance -> Impression rather than going Appearance -> Impression and biasing your perceptions (the way everybody does in real life).
The battle lines are moving pretty fast by Ukraine war standards. Pokravsk and Konstantivka are surrounded. Bilohorovka has finally fallen, tightening the Russian cauldron around Siverisk. The result of these three sieges is that the final 2014 era Ukrainian hardened defensive line through Sloviansk-Kramantorsk-Konstantivka is on the verge of being cauldroned.
Additionally, Kupiansk on the northern end of the eastern defensive line is almost encircled. In the south there’s a slow moving but consistent Russian breakout coming from the Avdiivka-Vuhledar direction.
In far north-central Ukraine, the offensive salient into Kursk has been fully rolled back. Russian troops are beginning to push into Ukraine towards Sumy.
Taking all these things together, it means you could see a complete collapse of the front in about six months.
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
4hr ago
I expect legal procedure is gonna converge on "you need to give meaningful notice to deportees unless they already have a final order of removal".
That's pretty much where it was except for the AEA stuff, and that's going the same way, yes.
(Maryland Dad DID have a final order of removal, he just also had an order that said he couldn't be sent to El Salvador specifically)
faceh
4hr ago
Yeah, my priors are VERY high on this just being a meat grinder of men dying in droves to secure a couple square miles of additional territory.
The only viable play (for either side) seems to be to acquire as much leverage as possible when talks finally occur.
I'm not counting out a breakthrough (Prighozin's little adventure two years ago could have shifted outcomes, for example) but claiming a breakthrough is too easy without actual real territorial gain to show for it.
Hell, Syria's civil war seemed to be at standstill then all at once Assad was suddenly ousted and on a plane to Moscow. It can happen, but good luck predicting it precisely in advance unless you were one of the people planning it.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
4hr ago
Civ dates back to the early 90s
It frustrates me occasionally that the first and second installments in the franchise have never been (legally) available digitally that I can tell. I played them as a kid but the CDs got lost over the years. I wouldn't mind trying the first one again.
birb_cromble
4hr ago
If the institute for the study of war is trustworthy, or at least consistently biased enough to use as a metric, it does look like the Russians are making some real pushes.
Check today's map from one on this day two years ago for comparison. They're nibbling at the edges of the northern border.
oats_son
4hr ago
I appear to have missed the words "video game equivalents of crack to me" in my statement. My bad!
My dad was a 90s computer gamer, so I probably have a more unique view on gaming than most. From my perspective, I discuss games from more recently more than I talk about old stuff. My favorites from the 90s were probably Fallout 1, Planescape: Torment, and Marathon, which had some pretty meaty things to talk about, and Fallout was totally oozing style. But more recently (and using the term "recently" loosely), there's stuff like Hotline Miami, Spec Ops: The Line, LISA: The Painful, OFF, Katana Zero, and Dark Souls that put together some very unique combination of mechanics and writing that are really fun to think about and interact with, basically all of them having honed their own unique style in a way that was impossible back then. Maybe it depends more on the genre you like? Like, CRPGs have definitely suffered, I think. But if you are writing off indie games, I think that's generally a bad idea, because those are a lot more true to the company culture that composed 90s gaming companies.
I don't care if I've heard it before, I like reading about things I'm interested in. Please, write more about video games, all the time, everywhere. If my examples seem dated, that's mostly because I'm cheap and only buy cheap old games.
Turniper
4hr ago
Yeah, they're interesting people. But she recently came back cancer free, so that's nice at least.
anon_
4hr ago
I expect legal procedure is gonna converge on "you need to give meaningful notice to deportees unless they already have a final order of removal".
anon_
4hr ago
Not that I disagree. But the Biden policy was ridiculous even though their leader/figurehead (whichever, dgaf) tried to maintain that he was a serious person.
IOW, ridiculous figure or not, we get ridiculous policy.
Stefferi
Chief Suomiposter
4hr ago
The pro-Russians have called the slow pace of grinding village conquests by Russians an escalating pace or words to the same effect for close to three years now, the same time they've predicted the imminent collapse of the front, Zelensky getting couped and so on.
100ProofTollBooth
Dumber than a man, but faster than a dog.
4hr ago
Suggestion:
Phrase your replies as prompts for Grok or any of the image generators.
For example, @FiveHourMarathon would obviously be:
an anthropomorphized wawa sandwich that lifts a lot of heavy barbells, Graffiti art style.
FtSoA
4hr ago
I don't know why anyone take him seriously after the hilariously manufactured pipeline attack story.
FtSoA
4hr ago
I can't think of a worse set of arguments made by proponents of the US letting Ukraine suffer a defeat.
- Putin defeating Ukraine and then being emboldened to threaten small NATO neighbors increases risk of WWIII way more than supporting Ukraine does.
- The US/West failing to sufficiently back Ukraine emboldens China and other would-be aggressors when they do their risk calculations.
faceh
4hr ago
Ukraine didn't want to agree too even though they have, at present, a snowball's chance in hell of regaining any territory and are inexorably losing more at an escalating pace.
Curious about where the "escalating pace" point comes from.
I'm too bubbled up on this, I think. I occasionally see videos of Russians getting mowed down by FPV drones or the Ukrainians pulling off a strike inside Russian motherland territory, and then usually Russian retaliation, but very few updates on battle line movement.
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
4hr ago
I'm trying to suggest that Ada Lovelace (much as I respect her) wasn't a leader of people by any stretch of the imagination. You can at least argue for Tubman in that she was a kind of leader. It's not a very good case, but you can make it. Lovelace? There's absolutely nothing there besides pure diversity quota thinking.
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
4hr ago
I'm not arguing that gaming crack never existed before today's time
That is definitely what I understood you to be arguing when you said "All of the video game equivalents of crack cocaine have generally released within the last 15 years". If that's not the case, fair enough.
Either way I disagree with your broader point, lol. Gaming really is in a slump after the golden age of the 90s-00s imo. But I don't have any arguments you probably haven't seen before, so we can agree to disagree on that point.
TowardsPanna
4hr ago
Are you trying to suggest that Harriet Tubman was not one of the great leaders and stateswomen of civilizations? Do better.
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
4hr ago
Oh yeah, already played that one. It's very fun and the beavers are cute. Timberborn has actually been the reference point I've been giving friends for CoI, because both games kind of feel like someone had fun programming a physics engine (water/soil), and then came up with a game to make use of it. Which isn't a knock on either game, I think they're both great! Just a funny similarity that stood out to me.
magicalkittycat
4hr ago
Fundamentally there's only one way for an invasion to stop and that's for the invaders to either win or give up (either voluntary or by force).
If Ukraine stops fighting back and lets Russia win easily, then the US just has major egg on our face, especially when we've been able to help hold back Russian forces for this long while barely even lifting a pinky. We're supposed to be this big strong global superpower, leader of the free world, and our allies in Asia are watching how we treat our allies in Europe. Taiwan is watching, South Korea is watching. This is one of the big pressures on Trump, a losing Ukraine and a winning Russia is a morale victory for anti-American demagogues and a strong sign to China that we will fold on Taiwan.
We leave the vacuum out of cowardice and fear, our enemies will gladly fill it.
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
4hr ago
The politicians who claimed to be picking the "be fucking reasonable" option turned out to, by revealed preference, favor the "let them all in, yes, even the obvious fakers and criminals" option.
Trump has mostly followed legal procedure. Legal procedure on paper for immigration law is actually quite harsh -- and yes, third party deportation is right there in the statutes. The big exception is the Alien Enemies Act stuff. (Maryland Dad was a violation of procedure, but almost certainly just a normal fuckup)
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
4hr ago
Civ 7 looks so bad. It's not even Civ any more, just another game with Civ branding. Then on top of that you have the legion of bugs that it launched with, and... yeah it's not a good look for Firaxis. People try to defend the game by saying "oh the new Civ game is always controversial on release", but I was there for Civ 5 and 6. Neither was even close to being as negatively received as 7 has been.
And don't even get me started on the sheer level of "diversity hire" leader picks they sunk to. This problem was in 6 as well (looking at you, Catherine de Medici), but 7 takes it to the next level. It's ridiculous.
This is kind of why I despise the inherent Pro-Ukraine bias of most western reporters/forums, they can't reliably report on Russian successes since that reads as treason to the good guys, even if its more accurate as to the situation on the ground.
That and the tendency to outright lie. I still remember the Ghost of Kyiv story, and that was just the most egregious of several from that time.
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