Nostr notes by John

I keep talking about how we have to find a place for the ...

2026-06-11T15:32:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…7z4k
_________________________

I keep talking about how we have to find a place for the paleofascists when all of this is said and done, largely because I don't support pogroms even for paleofascists and, well, that means we have to find a place them. 🤷‍♂️

But Liberals are the same problem, only in some ways worse, because they've been acculturated into believing that *invalidating and excluding people* is "coalition building"; sticking to bad policy is "moderation"; and not even trying to do good policy is "pragmatic".

The trick neofascists played convincing a whole bunch of ...

2026-06-11T15:27:36Z

The trick neofascists played convincing a whole bunch of otherwise good people that their closed minds and extremist, destructive policies were actually "moderate" and "pragmatic" is really one of the most brilliant applications of fascist strategy I've ever heard of. That even today, after its been exposed multiple times for what it is, the acculturation still holds for many of them, just shows how powerful neofascist cultural tech really is.

This was a post about Liberals.

Time for Bernie to retire He says we have to "take stock in ...

2026-06-08T17:09:23Z

Time for Bernie to retire

He says we have to "take stock in AI companies" in order to "have the power" and

my dude

Are you aware of what a "government" is? Have you ever read a book about what "States" are? Do you know what the word "military" means? Have you heard about this thing called "laws"?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/08/bernie-sanders-ai-sovereign-wealth-fund-plan

Pete Buttigieg is the fascist you should be afraid of, because ...

2026-05-30T04:01:58Z

Pete Buttigieg is the fascist you should be *afraid* of, because if he becomes President and decides to disappear you, nobody will know it was him or the Feds.

And he will disappear people. Have no doubt.

You should elect JD Vance rather than someone as competent and weaselly as Pete B.

Bro is *creepy AF* and *extremely neofash*. He worked in military intel, McKinsey!!, and as a mayor, before being catapulted into the Biden Admin.

He was the chosen one.

That's scary AF.

Revoking passports is why passports shouldn't exist, just ...

2026-05-08T13:19:45Z

Revoking passports is why passports shouldn't exist, just like "individual sanctions" are why the global banking system shouldn't exist.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/07/state-department-passport-revocations-child-support

I mean, look at artists like Kaytranada and AG Cook and Doechii ...

2026-05-05T22:16:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…p8ct
_________________________

I mean, look at artists like Kaytranada and AG Cook and Doechii and Kendrick Lamar and Doja Cat, among dozens of incredible musicians producing and performing original music in the electronic, hip hop and house music categories, and it's hard to conclude that "mainstream music composition" is "stagnating".

There's hyperpop, afrobeat/amapiano, reggaeton, k-pop (and t-pop/v-pop), the return of 2-step/jungle, and the growing number of artists blending all of them.

The funniest part of the shooting at the WHCD is that Trump is ...

2026-04-26T06:08:24Z

The funniest part of the shooting at the WHCD is that Trump is going to be super disappointed when his approvals don't go up and the recession still happens.

I don't think Western governments and media establishments ...

2026-04-24T14:48:25Z

I don't think Western governments and media establishments understand how much credibility they've lost through their entirely uncritical support for Israel, or how durable that loss is going to be for the foreseeable future.

I expect that in 10 years or so people will look back and see that entire political ideologies were upended and discarded and entire media empires were decimated simply because they chose Israel over truth, justice, decency and reality.

Neurodivergent people are begging you to understand that your ...

2026-04-22T14:13:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…js3a
_________________________

Neurodivergent people are begging you to understand that your normally-functioning brain is a *blessing* gurl

If the cognitive effects of LLM use turn out to be real, and ...

2026-04-22T14:09:03Z

If the cognitive effects of LLM use turn out to be real, and recovery requires treatment, I could see this entire push to shove LLMs down employees' throats becoming a serious legal liability around workplace injury.

And from anecdotal reports in the tech industry from anti-LLM people I know really well, the cognitive effects are worse than the studies indicate.

Let's put it this way: for the same reason I'd do just about anything to avoid COVID, I'd also do just about anything to avoid LLMs.

Also occurs in kids at the same rate as in adults: ~20-30% chance ...

2026-04-17T18:57:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…0zug
_________________________

Also occurs in kids at the same rate as in adults: ~20-30% chance per infection (depending on definition of symptoms and study)

But hey, I'm sure all those lagging educational indicators and behavior problems are because some of them spent 12 weeks doing remote schooling, or maybe because of ~*social media*~, not because they've gotten a brain-damaging virus 3-4x since then.

Every time I see an announcement of a mass firing as just ...

2026-04-15T18:15:05Z

Every time I see an announcement of a mass firing as just business-as-usual I remember being a kid in the 80s watching PBS News Hour and seeing CEOs get called before Congress and grilled for firing like 500 people.

Straight-up marinated in acid, lambasted, raked across coals, and then served up to be ate. I can literally remember thinking how funny it was that they were sweating so much.

Literally everything people think is "just how it is" was *very, substantially different* <40 years ago.

Nostr event nevent1qqsr499yvhl4tdwlxvsuy5ay3fq990yc9wcjajquu6854d75t24u2jqzyr7atd2k329y560avg2k9hk0crm3xayv6xaeujqkqypvtefwq6c5x5puwc4

2026-04-15T14:06:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…mcsk
_________________________

Nostr event nevent1qqsdhw8tkqf5jwrr7adpequdjc7u0zu9vutj569rw0sd44uqt8pywfgzyr7atd2k329y560avg2k9hk0crm3xayv6xaeujqkqypvtefwq6c5xty5mhk

2026-04-09T16:07:14Z

RE: https://ec.social-network.europa.eu/@EUCommission/116375194345663426

Hey! New PR term just dropped: "AI Factories"

I guess "data center" went belly up so they needed another way to say "facility that destroys literally everything around it and eventually the planet for no purpose other than to enrich a couple hundred already obscenely rich people"

Edit: One thing I will say: PR people are *also* getting super rich off of "AI", cause it's the rotten egg that just keeps on stinkin'.

quoting
note1p5a…w0vg

Europe, the AI Continent.

One year ago, we launched the AI Continent Action Plan. Since then, we have made huge strides:

✅ 19 AI factories are now live across EU countries.
✅ We established the AI Skills Academy to train experts.
✅ The AI Omnibus is cutting costs for business.
✅ We have earmarked €1 billion to support AI adoption in industry.

We are building a secure and innovative AI future for Europe.

Here's how 👉 https://link.europa.eu/nj3VH9

RE: https://fediscience.org/@FerRacimo/116375195712630051 This is ...

2026-04-09T16:05:30Z

RE: https://fediscience.org/@FerRacimo/116375195712630051

This is what I mean by "scientism": when you define all exercises of power as needing to be "determined by science and data", those who wish to exercise power simply...change the science and the data.

The strange, infantile idea that somehow science is immune to the urges and appetites of the powerful, and can therefor be centered, creating "impartial" systems of control that can't be abused, needs to die in a fire.

quoting
note1vk2…s625

𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬: "𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝"

If you're into science or medicine, you may have heard of journals like Cell or The Lancet. You might also be familiar with their parent company Elsevier / RELX, and their predatory practices: sometimes charging more than 10,000 dollars for publications whose running costs don't reach a tenth of that amount.

What you might not know is that beyond pocketing public research money, Elsevier is also contributing to climate breakdown, pouring millions into tools and journals providing information about areas yet to be exploited for oil and gas extraction, as well as new technologies needed to dig up oil more efficiently in the Arctic and the Canadian tar sands. The motto of one of their online tools, Geofacets, used to be that, thanks to it, “exploration has never been more seamless.”

But that's the tip of the iceberg. For years, RELX's political action committee REPAC has been providing support to climate denialist politicians in the US, preventing carbon mitigation bills from reaching a vote in Congress.

I document this and other complicities of big academic publishers in my new book Science in Resistance, where I interview Kip Lyall, a former employee of the journal Cell, who was fired after asking too many questions about the company's fossil fuel ties.

Excerpt below. 👇

#Science #OpenScience #Fossilfuels #Climate #Climate #Activism #Journal

Maybe this will help. A bigot being shouted down and run out of ...

2026-04-09T00:57:44Z

Maybe this will help.

A bigot being shouted down and run out of town kind of *looks* like a bunch of bigots chasing a marginalized person out of town.

But here's two oranges. One of them is a candle that smells like blood and shit and will kill you if you eat it.

Are the oranges the same?

Now try this one:

Are the bigot and the marginalized person the same, or is one of them a candle that smells like blood and shit that wants to kill you *pretending* to be an orange?"

Got my first "AI is going to revolutionize the world" ...

2026-04-07T13:33:49Z

Got my first "AI is going to revolutionize the world" dude to that thread from yesterday.

But, I want to be very clear to anyone else thinking "I'll debate this person about AI's value because-"

Let me stop you there.

If you tried to engage me in a debate about eating my own shit, I'd also tell you to fuck off.

*Just* the *extant* externalities of this technology make it, independent of its "value", worthless. Add to that the fact that it's garbage, and again, debate is worthless.

But that's not even the most planet-destroying liberal thing ...

2026-04-06T13:57:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…nxfx
_________________________

But that's not even the most planet-destroying liberal thing about Scott Jensen's takes on "AI" discourse on Mastodon:

He also thinks that "AI" propagandists are just like Black people facing racism here and that excluding AI zealots is *the same* as not creating safe and positive spaces for maginalized people.

It's literally one of the whitest, most liberal posts I've *ever read*.

4/

Scott Jensen's concern, in a nutshell, is the abuse and ...

2026-04-06T13:55:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…3vqc
_________________________

Scott Jensen's concern, in a nutshell, is the abuse and harrassment that AI propagandists have to face here, on Mastodon.

His concern about the unethical, immoral, and destructive externalities of yes, even "local AI models"? His concern about the deliberate, strategic conflation of ML applications like medicine and materials development? Protein folding? Physics modeling?

Apparently not urgent enough to even mention.

No, it's the propagandists receiving rudeness he finds alarming.

3/

To a liberal, "reasonableness" isn't a practice, a ...

2026-04-06T13:52:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…fgwq
_________________________

To a liberal, "reasonableness" isn't a practice, a function of critical thinking, or even the result of a well considered heuristic.

It's a fetish.

Yup; just like some people like to suck on toes, liberals like to be "reasonable". It toots their horn to be "the only adult the room", to the point where they'll notice a consensus forming and scream

"WAIT A MINUTE obviously the *correct* and *adult* answer is ~somewhere in between~!!!!!"

This happens literally on *every issue*.

2/

I screenshot this because I don't have the energy to throw ...

2026-04-06T13:49:49Z

I screenshot this because I don't have the energy to throw myself into a pit of half-braindead liberal vipers this morning.

But this *entire thread* is incredibly important, because it's why Donald Trump is president.

This is a thread about how liberals destroyed the world.

Any analysis of what's happening that takes it as a matter of ...

2026-04-03T21:24:30Z

Any analysis of what's happening that takes it as a matter of fact that the Democrats are a good alternative, rather than the controlled, diplomatic wing of the same ideology as the GOP (not MAGA; the GOP) is bullshit. It's making a category error.

Of course, all of this is rooted in the origins of the 13 ...

2026-04-03T21:12:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…c473
_________________________

Of course, all of this is rooted in the origins of the 13 colonies and the European nations we "bought" the rest of the country from, while genociding the First Peoples.

This inflection point is an *opportunity* for USians to seek the Just Peace by standing back for a second and recognizing how deeply Trump is connected to the entire history of the United States.

/fin

4) it was always thus, since the US dragon uncoiled in the 1890s ...

2026-04-03T21:11:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…an4e
_________________________

4) it was always thus, since the US dragon uncoiled in the 1890s and became the world's largest economy for the first time by disregarding the value of human life and pursuing a cataclysmic industrialization effort

5) acknowledging this is *absolutely essential* if USians want to make it to the other side without being a pariah for *literal generations* everywhere else in the world

We're not gonna be able to just cover this shit up, folks. *Every* system and *every* secret is fraying.

/2

As we analyze Trump, we have to consider: 1) the "world ...

2026-04-03T21:08:02Z

As we analyze Trump, we have to consider:

1) the "world order" created by America was neocolonialist, imperial, abusive, and characterized by what is essentially outsourced slavery + sophisticated piracy

2) for most of humanity, it was *not* better than the era before it

3) for client States and the Emeritus Empire in Europe, it was better (for some, very much so, for others, marginally)

2/

My doctor's literally check a website for that. Anyway, ...

2026-03-30T21:01:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…m2r9
_________________________

My doctor's literally check a website for that.

Anyway, I'm not saying you shouldn't see a doctor. Or that you should take meds without seeing a doctor, first, and getting a recommendation. I'm saying doctors as gatekeepers for access to medicine is bullshit.

The only argument against it is "some people are foolhardy fuckwits" and

Why should everything suck to protect foolhardy fuckwits? Is what I ask myself

I do not think prescriptions should exist. I think all drugs ...

2026-03-30T18:31:07Z

I do not think prescriptions should exist.

I think all drugs should be available to everyone at all times without cost. AND expert healthcare consultation should be available to everyone at all times without cost. AND all the social determinants that lead to addiction and drug abuse should be addressed. AND that addiction and drug abuse should have free treatment. AND that not all regular drug use is addiction.

Whew.

You know, they got rid of the draft and increased the size of the ...

2026-03-29T18:54:25Z

You know, they got rid of the draft and increased the size of the standing military because after Vietnam they realized that *requiring* the people of the country to fight their wars threatened their ability to transmute what they see as worthless and surplus lives for pretty treasure and imperial dominance, and ultimately would mobilize the vast lazy middle in ways that they couldn't control.

Haven't you ever wondered why there's no "war taxes"? Why after 2001 we stopped passing AUMFs?

The Culture novels are extraordinary partly because Banks' ...

2026-03-26T18:25:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…rahp
_________________________

The Culture novels are extraordinary partly because Banks' presentation of the Culture is so nuanced and cynical, but also contains a germ of admiration for its ruthless practicality and confident indifference to most "threats" that aren't actually threats.

Anarchists, I think, fall under the latter category in this instance.

Yeah, I'm really at the point where Occam's Razor ...

2026-03-26T17:03:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…a5de
_________________________

Yeah, I'm really at the point where Occam's Razor indicates that we should just assume that vast secret conspiracies of the powerful exist by default, and liberal insistence that they do not exist is literally an op.

Personally, I think politicians like Mamdani, and their families, ...

2026-03-26T13:46:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…8kpv
_________________________

Personally, I think politicians like Mamdani, and their families, are explicitly threatened by police when they take office.

Police fraternal orgs are national concerns; they can find and murder anyone without there even being an investigation.

Because otherwise it is *honestly* extremely hard to explain how not one single anti-cop politician has *ever* remained anti-cop after taking office.

The simplest answer is that cops are a national organized crime syndicate

This article literally calls price gouging "seller's ...

2026-03-22T04:38:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…xwye
_________________________

This article literally calls price gouging "seller's inflation" with a straight face and

smh 🤦‍♂️

How can people be so obtuse?

It's easy to make fun of people under 25 for making thrifting ...

2026-03-20T19:36:09Z

It's easy to make fun of people under 25 for making thrifting and gardening/farming and foraging into pop trends, but to paraphrase my niece:

"older clothes fit better, feel nicer, look cooler, are cheaper, and cost less.

"You can alter them, you can decorate them, you can get clout for finding extremely cool shit

"My friends and I don't understand why anyone would buy new clothes. Fast fashion is destroying the world, and everything it makes sucks."

So there. The kids are alright.

Don't forget that Democrats and Republicans both agree that ...

2026-03-20T16:31:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…tagn
_________________________

Don't forget that Democrats and Republicans both agree that the "solution" is to pump billions in subsidies into private real estate investors and contractors to build, build, BUILD! while at the same time cutting essential regulations that stop houses from falling apart within a decade of when they were built.

You know, to help regular folks "afford" housing. Somehow. At some point in the next 50 years.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5788573-housing-affordability-bill-house/

So, the term "micro-aggression" is almost certainly one ...

2026-03-19T14:22:14Z

So, the term "micro-aggression" is almost certainly one of those things someone somewhere came up with in a paper that some undergrad seized and started using vernacularly and it's truly an abomination of communication.

Because what it is - what it actually *is* - is so much worse, and more simple, than what it conveys.

It's when someone who knows better, who knows what the boundaries are, repeatedly violates them in small ways to test if you'll continue to enforce them.

They are not using "AI" to attack hospitals, schools, ...

2026-03-18T13:12:54Z

They are not *using* "AI" to attack hospitals, schools, water, etc.

*THEY* are attacking hospitals, schools, water, etc. and *saying* that "AI" told them to.

Please do not be confused: "AI" is not attacking anything.

Human beings are committing war crimes and *lying to you* about what told them to do it.

That's why if "AI did it" should have the same legal weight as "I was just following orders".

These distinctions are why *how* we say things is *just as important* as what we're saying.

The fact that Democrats have not taken to calling Trump "the ...

2026-03-17T13:25:31Z

The fact that Democrats have not taken to calling Trump "the Epstein President" is simply further proof that they're a joke as a political party.

I feel like it's important to mention that without guns, ...

2026-03-17T12:16:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…jfz3
_________________________

I feel like it's important to mention that without guns, currencies are worthless and so is property.

When I see these arguments I'm like "you're almost ...

2026-03-15T16:46:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…jrhy
_________________________

When I see these arguments I'm like "you're *almost* there!" bc

It was never about whether or not we had the money. Pointing out the mendacity of politicians who use "fiscal conservatism" to destroy society is only effective if you call them damn liars and demand they resign.

Cleverly observing that war is expensive but everything we actually want is less expensive simply continues the framing they want, which is around money and not humanity and decency.

The hard part of all of this for many who woke up before MAGA is ...

2026-03-15T16:26:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…5lzr
_________________________

The hard part of all of this for many who woke up before MAGA is that while there is an increase in scale and prominence to the depravity you mention, and a marked reduction in deniability or even attempts to deny the atrocities, pretty much all of them were happening every day in the US long before Trump was anything more than a failed real estate developer and a key partner in a vast, secret child rape and blackmailing cabal with members all over the world. (as you know)

"the President is going to do a draft" No, he isn't. ...

2026-03-13T18:47:44Z

"the President is going to do a draft"

No, he isn't. Not only is he not empowered to do that, but the Federal govt isn't capable of enforcing a draft that is extremely unpopular. It's not going to happen.

But everyone is talking about it and not Trump's pedophilia and child rape and his utterly catastrophic illegitimate military adventure.

Like, at some point can we *stop* being the most easily manipulated people in world history?

Sam Altman: “We see a future where intelligence is a utility, ...

2026-03-12T23:13:16Z

Sam Altman: “We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.”

I see a future where I'm a beautiful, immortal winged Pegasus with a 12-inch dick and all of you have to buy me hamburgers.

These are equally plausible futures.

Every USian needs to reexamine the why of our list of ...

2026-03-06T20:43:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…z352
_________________________

Every USian needs to reexamine the *why* of our list of adversaries and study the origin of the enmity. For most, it inevitably resolves into a question of capital interests in the US controlling the US government and desiring something in the target nation they are not being allowed to steal.

Essentially, the US is a burglar armed like a Navy Seal that, if you refuse to just hand them all your shit, will burn your house down and kill your family just to pick through the ashes.

Iran is the US' enemy because they rebelled against being our ...

2026-03-06T20:39:29Z

Iran is the US' enemy because they rebelled against being our client State and took back their oil. A lot like Cuba is the US' enemy because they refused to bend the knee to our capitalist owner/operators. And Venezuela.

Understanding where the enmity originated highlights how responsibility for the state of its relationships with those nations falls firmly on US shoulders.

ICE is spending $250 million a day? That's great news. ...

2026-03-06T15:12:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…6sc7
_________________________

ICE is spending $250 million a day? That's great news.

They're gonna burn through that $90B in just under a year.

Even more worrying, according to the Pandemic Mitigation ...

2026-03-04T18:22:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…5kkq
_________________________

Even more worrying, according to the Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative out of Tulane University, of the 51 million people who have been est to have been infected in 2026 so far, statistically ~20% of those who were infected will now be sick in a way that impacts their day to day lives for more than 12 months (the proscriptive definition of "long COVID")

And 25% of *those* will never recover.

https://www.pmc19.com/data/index.php

Here's the thing: when a government makes something everyone ...

2026-03-04T13:39:16Z

Here's the thing: when a government makes something everyone wants to do "illegal" people don't stop doing it; they simply stop regarding the government as a valid arbiter of what's allowable.

Weed is a perfect example of this. In the US, individual States were like "A significant majority of our populations smoke weed regularly, so we're making it legal" and the Feds were like "nope still very illegal" and you know what?

It's legal.

Bc unpopular laws *don't actually exist*

1/

Well, the story of the 2020s is that it's basically the ...

2026-02-28T16:31:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…p7zs
_________________________

Well, the story of the 2020s is that it's basically the decade the Western political class decided that "what people think" and "what we want" didn't have to align at all, because of entrenched structural advantages for the established powers.

The story of the 2030s will be that history has a way of repeating when rulers forget the lessons of the past.

The smart move for any competent SE fired bc of LLM-pilling is to ...

2026-02-28T15:23:01Z

The smart move for any competent SE fired bc of LLM-pilling is to start an anti-LLM company that replaces one of the pieces of infra that LLMs are going to FUBAR in the next couple years.

There is no scenario where vibe coding results in anything but catastrophic failure without any way to fix it bc nobody knows the codebase.

For critical services this will lead people to immediately switch a la Xitter to Bsky or Masto.

So make tomorrow's Block, cause this one ain't long for this world.

I'm saying put the sick people in masks

2026-02-27T01:09:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…t844
_________________________

I'm saying put the sick people in masks

O, If only there were some cheap, easy to use technology that ...

2026-02-26T17:59:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…wvqr
_________________________

O, If only there were some cheap, easy to use technology that could protect healthcare workers and their patients from measles! If only we lived during a time in which we could somehow remove the virus from the air we breathe!

IF ONLY

But it looks like we'll just have to all catch all the diseases, because such technology does not exist. Maybe in some future paradise!!!?!

Trump et al.'s lack of curiosity, knowledge, prudence, or ...

2026-02-25T18:57:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…4se4
_________________________

Trump et al.'s lack of curiosity, knowledge, prudence, or strategy, combined with their hubris and worship of supremacy through "hard" power, is what's going to end them before they do anything *but* absolutely kneecap and mortally wound the neofascist State they were trying to replace.

He's like a tempest that wipes the board, a hyperlight glaciation of negating energy that is reshaping the landscape and stripping away what was.

His incompetence at wielding or even understanding "soft" ...

2026-02-25T18:53:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…34ht
_________________________

His incompetence at wielding or even understanding "soft" power or economic power is what makes his insistence at immediately ending our ecumenopoly so foolish.

If he had started the process and then his successors had continued it, for a decade, he may have been able to achieve it.

But the reality is that the way he's doing it - all "hard" power - is going to implode the US *long* before it makes the US self-sufficient.

Yeah, but you gotta get from here to there, is the problem. Trump ...

2026-02-25T18:51:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…75wh
_________________________

Yeah, but you gotta get from here to there, is the problem.

Trump thinks you can just yell at farmers and they'll *completely transform their fields into food production*, overnight. Which is not how that works. Nor *can* it work that way.

He thinks you can just snap your fingers and manufacture technology and exploit resources in Greenland.

But that takes decades because of the physical realities of building the infrastructure and skilled workers capable of doing that.

Let's not underestimate how much of an ecumenopoly we are.

2026-02-25T18:26:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…ezcx
_________________________

Let's not underestimate how much of an ecumenopoly we are.

European countries aren't afraid of being invaded by the US ...

2026-02-25T18:26:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…khq5
_________________________

European countries aren't afraid of being invaded by the US or wrecked by the US.

We would *quite literally* become one of the poorest nations in the world if all trade from the EU disappeared.

And poor nations *cannot* furnish militaries like ours, because of *physical reality*.

Europe fears only the loss of their comfortable Colonist Emeritus status/Most Favored Client State position.

I mean, it depends on your definition of "winning" lol ...

2026-02-25T18:23:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…meat
_________________________

I mean, it depends on your definition of "winning" lol

Usually, "winning" includes *not* repeatedly punching oneself in the face until one dies, regardless of how hard you punched someone else immediately before punching yourself, over and over again.

Iraq, Afghanistan, and (at the time) Vietnam were essentially colonies full of non-Whites that existed to be exploited and wrecked, either as proxies for wars we'd lose (Cold War) or to deflect rage at home (Iraq, Afghanistan)

...hand-in-hand with US "hard" power. Basically, we spend ...

2026-02-25T17:42:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…jetu
_________________________

...hand-in-hand with US "hard" power.

Basically, we spend a lot of money on nothin' but the right to say we spend a lot of money. Our real "hard" power was our control of the reserve currency and de-facto control of the global banking system.

Our capacity for modern warfare - cyber ops, infosec, sabotage, corruption, etc - is practically nil compared to many of our "weaker" adversaries. As you point out in your thread, we can't seem to win "hot" wars...

I think the US' hard power is, unlike many other Empires in ...

2026-02-25T17:39:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…zf0e
_________________________

I think the US' hard power is, unlike many other Empires in past eras, just as insubstantial as its soft power.

Or, rather: I think the *idea* of US hard power is far more effective as a tool than the hard power, itself.

I mean, all those wars we lost? In countries that were *very* weak and *extremely* unprepared for existential military conflict, in large part because they were, until right up until we invaded, *our creations*.

In this way, US soft power was...

Here's why MAGA (and the US empire) are not long for this ...

2026-02-25T16:51:37Z

Here's why MAGA (and the US empire) are not long for this world:

Step 1: eviscerate the diplomatic corps

Step 2: alienate literally everyone

Step 3: use US tech companies to shut off services to anyone who goes against your wishes

Step 4: try to use diplomacy to pressure countries into not protecting their own interests by cutting out US tech companies

It's called self-owning, and it's all MAGA is really good at

Propaganda is kind of like Miss Cleo telling eager listeners that ...

2026-02-14T14:39:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…77gr
_________________________

Propaganda is kind of like Miss Cleo telling eager listeners that nothing is possible and the future has been determined by powerful forces over which they have no control.

This is part of why it's important to point out how ...

2026-02-14T14:25:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…rphk
_________________________

This is part of why it's important to point out how incompetent and impotent they are, and how badly they fuck everything up. It's hard to be scared of ridiculous losers; being scared of them is their only really effectively scalable weapon.

Every other one is way to minuscule to subdue the United States, incl the military.

And when they do mention them, it's only to dismiss them as ...

2026-02-10T19:13:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…a2cy
_________________________

And when they do mention them, it's only to dismiss them as people who will "never participate, so there's no point" in trying to understand them or court them.

Has it ever struck you as odd that the two political parties of neofascism are just...not interested... in 100 million voters' thoughts on policy?

It's because their system is working as designed, and the more people who divest the easier it is to manipulate those who are committing to being marks.

But this only works to a point.

3/

There is an immense group of people in the US who are simply - ...

2026-02-10T19:09:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…mkvx
_________________________

There is an immense group of people in the US who are simply - correctly - divested from the neofascist pseudo-democracy designed to kettle us into an economic ratcheting system that ends with an oligarchy painted over with a thin layer of "self-determination" theatre.

Because neofascists don't know what to do with these people, they *erase* them. You'll notice that neither political party is even remotely interested in *non-voters*, despite them being about a third of the country.

2/

The "half vs half" narrative of USian politics is a damn ...

2026-02-10T19:05:26Z

The "half vs half" narrative of USian politics is a damn lie, and it serves the political class and the suborned punditry, and the more we talk about our political situation as "half vs half" more likely we are to find ourselves, despite it not being true, killing each other for no reason either of us can figure out.

This was always the fundamental danger in the neofascist gambit of redefining everything in terms of culture and then hiding their policymaking behind the resultant conflict.

1/

I think it's wild that people are like "every one of ...

2026-02-10T14:57:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…f3au
_________________________

I think it's wild that people are like "every one of these people knows *exactly* what's happening and chose this, specifically" about people who are probably the least self-aware and least capable folks in the entire world.

The idea that a woman who would stand in front of a Federal judge and say "this job sucks" knew precisely what she was getting into beggar's belief.

I just don't buy the whole "MAGA voters knew!!!" thing, bc I don't have that much respect for them.

Electoral fuckery already exists in very meticulously hidden ways ...

2026-02-06T16:16:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…9mau
_________________________

Electoral fuckery already exists in very meticulously hidden ways that cannot survive his dementia-addled, supremacist-driven speedrunning of Naziism.

I'm just not convinced that US culture and civic religious beliefs, as shallow and unearned as they are, simply play no role in how this whole thing eventually ends up.

I also think the whole "let's send ICE to polling places" is 100% deflection from the tame Epstein drop that *still* shows Trump was Epstein's partner.

There's a reason many US States engage in vote suppression as ...

2026-02-06T16:13:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…8a6d
_________________________

There's a reason many US States engage in vote suppression as their preferred method of electoral fraud, and its not because MAGA Secretaries of State don't have the power to seriously fuck with the actual ballots.

I fully appreciate the "danger", but I also think from a different perspective MAGA and Trump are doing the US a favor by ripping off the neofascist illusions of "free and fair elections" because they're just too impatient and clumsy to use the tools already there.

I mean, it's not that I don't think they'll try. I ...

2026-02-06T16:10:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…pyl7
_________________________

I mean, it's not that I don't think they'll try.

I just don't think they have the juice to pull it off cleanly, which means we enter a phase of realignment between the executive branch, the military, and the people in which we have to figure out how to remove them from power outside of the "law".

I also think that as shallow as it is, the USian obsession with "free and fair elections" simply cannot allow the kind of hamfisted election interference MAGA will engage in.

The same is true of liberals, though. - COVID (the whole ...

2026-02-05T22:58:35Z

The same is true of liberals, though.

- COVID (the whole enchilada)
- Biden and Obama's ICE wasn't "cruel"
- Gaza isn't a genocide; it's "complicated"
- Bidenomics! Suffering poor people are just too stupid to know how great they have it!
- Democrats protect the environment
- Democrats never actively and repeatedly violate people's constitutional rights
- Police are good people

All of these are transparently false, but reading liberal media outlets you'd think they were uncontested facts.

File under: liberals who think ICE cares about what judges think ...

2026-02-05T16:41:29Z

File under: liberals who think ICE cares about what judges think or the law says, after they've flagrantly violated the law, flouted judges orders, and eviscerated the US Constitution for more than a year.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/05/ice-immigration-raids-oregon

The outrageous speculation by Trump and Bannon et al. about ...

2026-02-05T16:35:58Z

The outrageous speculation by Trump and Bannon et al. about elections is literally, transparently, designed to bamboozle the media into fractal coverage, and liberals into a ineffectual tizzy, that lessens the impact of the revelations in the Epstein files that Trump wasn't just a pedophile rapist - he was also Epstein's business partner.

My reading of history is different. Repression doesn't work; ...

2026-02-03T14:59:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…gytg
_________________________

My reading of history is different. Repression doesn't work; it merely delays the inevitable, and makes the ultimate social contraction much worse for everyone involved.

Repression + scapegoating + marginal change to address the worst of it does work almost every time.

But our ruling class in this era is too small to understand that their survival depends on them doing just a *little* less child raping and transparent grifting.

What the political class doesn't seem to understand but ...

2026-02-03T14:50:20Z

What the political class doesn't seem to understand but anyone with a cursory understanding of history will, is that when populations start protesting and rebelling and demanding change that's your warning shot. It's not the end of the process, it's the beginning.

If you keep not listening and not solving the problems and going about your merry, corrupt, greedy way, that shit progresses and eventually the crowd isn't asking anymore.

That's when it's too late, FYI.

People can transpose one thing into another thing, despite those ...

2026-02-02T18:13:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…nhrm
_________________________

People can transpose one thing into another thing, despite those two things having no apparent relationship.

The human mind knows absolutely no causal limits, uses less electricity than a lightbulb, and can leap vast distances faster than the speed of light.

Materialists want human brains to be computers because that means we're all beep-boop causality monkeys.

Ironically, they want that *despite* growing evidence that our brains and consciousnesses are far more than that.

You know, quantum theory is far more intuitive from a human ...

2026-02-02T18:11:10Z

You know, quantum theory is far more intuitive from a human perspective than materialism ever could be, because the human experience is an exercise in contradictions and opposing yet equally true/likely things, not a top-down causal waterfall like materialists think.

For ex, people can both desire something and be repulsed by it. They can both love and hate something. They can believe one thing and do the opposite in the world. They can act in the interests of another rather than themselves.

I'm always "surprised" when Mayors and Governors that ...

2026-01-30T13:54:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…38qx
_________________________

I'm always "surprised" when Mayors and Governors that promise "reform" end up licking the boot within 12 hours of being elected. The gun to their head may be literal or not, but it's there.

Yeah, but it's a common trick in consulting and sales to ...

2026-01-30T04:58:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…anfa
_________________________

Yeah, but it's a common trick in consulting and sales to shape presentations to give clients the *impression* they're making a choice, but actually have all the options essentially be the same program - the one you recommend - only in different forms and inversions. it works like a charm, when you're good at it.

They are acting according to their perception of what's possible, a perception that has been expertly crafted to seem extremely limited by the laws of nature.

See this last one is where I disagree. I think psychology is ...

2026-01-30T04:46:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…jtaf
_________________________

See this last one is where I disagree. I think psychology is real, and neofascists constructed a psychological kettle that held the population in check, probably better than they could have ever hoped.

Everything fits together into this interlocking prison in a way that is just too precise to be coincidental. Sure, the details have varied; but the overall mechanisms were made with affordances.

You see USians as a people with agency in a democracy; I see them as prisoners.

All of this fear that if people showed up open carrying it would ...

2026-01-28T20:41:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…ezhk
_________________________

All of this fear that if people showed up open carrying it would devolve into a firefight assumes that ICE is itching for a pitched battle in which their opponents fight back and they gloriously win without incurring even a single injury.

But that's not how it would go, and they know that now.

A lot of people think the reason they didn't pick Oregon for their "demonstration of power" is because we have no registration of firearms and a strong leftist gun culture.

They also know if "legal observers" also have cadres of ...

2026-01-28T20:34:04Z

They also know if "legal observers" also have cadres of heavily armed guardians with them, ICE won't dare to touch them, because *they're pathetic cowards and bullies who value nothing more than their own lives*.

The secret of the Black Panthers was that it was the combination of widespread protests AND armed Black resistance that led a terrified white ruling class to cave on Civil Rights.

The 2nd Amendment exists because the Founders knew the character of the nation they were founding.

if you knew how many people have blocked me because I showed up ...

2026-01-28T16:43:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…mwp5
_________________________

if you knew how many people have blocked me because I showed up to this argument with receipts lol

I will never forget how easily liberals sacrificed me for Eggs ...

2026-01-28T16:39:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…jjwx
_________________________

I will never forget how easily liberals sacrificed me for Eggs Benny and a Dave Matthews concert.

Joe Biden, through deliberate public health policy, murdered a ...

2026-01-28T16:16:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…0rys
_________________________

Joe Biden, through deliberate public health policy, murdered a million people in the United States, and permanently disabled 6 million more.

I hope his metastatic prostate cancer is extremely painful and debilitating and that he dies in agony. It's the least he can do for us.

I will say that if they had managed to never kill a white person, ...

2026-01-28T01:27:29Z

I will say that if they had managed to never kill a white person, most of the US probably wouldn't have noticed. Imagine that being the key mistake they made that unravels it all. Smh.

There's nothing strategic about what the paleofascists are ...

2026-01-27T14:28:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…n9lg
_________________________

There's nothing strategic about what the paleofascists are doing: they're literally speedrunning the Cliff's Notes of "Naziism for Dummies" but in the US in 2026 not post-monarchy Germany in the 1920s and 30s.

I suspected, and Minneapolis has confirmed, that paleofascism simply cannot work in the United States. Mostly because *culturally* we are a restless and uppity people who react reflexively to overt tyranny. Which is why neofascism hid it under layers and layers of systems.

In a lot of ways, Minneapolis was the worst place to start this ...

2026-01-26T21:36:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…p0y0
_________________________

In a lot of ways, Minneapolis was the worst place to start this little fascist takeover, because I grew up in the Great Lakes region and the neoliberals never really successfully stamped out the "we're in this together" culture there.

Go to NYC in a crisis and you'll see similarly connected neighborhoods coming together for common good. There's a reason every non-right wing President in US history came from NYC.

These paleofascists are hopelessly incompetent and that's a gift.

Smacks of "well, if [Black/minority/queer/trans/etc] person ...

2026-01-26T18:52:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…x3zl
_________________________

Smacks of "well, if [Black/minority/queer/trans/etc] person hadn't talked back, they wouldn't have gotten shot by the police" bullshit.

Boomers really fucked up when they raised their kids to hate ...

2026-01-26T16:39:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…j5ae
_________________________

Boomers really fucked up when they raised their kids to hate genocide and racism, apparently. "We didn't mean *our* genocides and racism!" they moan regretfully.

I'm over here really wishing we could take "every ...

2026-01-25T17:53:55Z

I'm over here really wishing we could take "every Republican accusation is a confession or a leak of their plans" from clever aphorism to concrete strategic input upon which we can act urgently and forcefully.

If you look at the last 20 years of GOP slander, there's a literal map of every weak point in the US government's structure, process, and self-regulatory capacity. Every accusation marks a spot we should have pro-actively shored up and hardened.

Every. One.

Hypocrisy is boring, sure. But the reason it's boring is that ...

2026-01-25T14:45:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…mur2
_________________________

Hypocrisy is boring, sure. But the reason it's boring is that there's no actual commentary on anything substantive when you criticize it. It's morally indifferent.

Like, you can observe hypocrisy and snicker and pretend outrage without ever considering the subject of the hypocrisy itself. Like the ultimate deflection.

Dem process obsession is the same: rather than discuss the "State killing a citizen" part, only discuss the *extrajudicial* part.

Like, the job isn't to stand around and tell people not to do ...

2026-01-24T20:02:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…6ruv
_________________________

Like, the job isn't to stand around and tell people not to do anything, despite what Walz seems to think. It's leading a State and protecting its people.

There's something about how Walz is giving a speech right now ...

2026-01-24T20:02:03Z

There's something about how Walz is giving a speech right now but nobody cares because he needs to be in the street or resign.

Your Local Epidemiologist just sent out a newsletter about ...

2026-01-21T15:31:08Z

Your Local Epidemiologist just sent out a newsletter about "Strengthening Your Immune System" that is essentially a laundry list of all the expected things: herbs, cold plunges, sleep more, etc.

What they don't mention is that getting COVID will destroy your immune system.

I think maybe it's time to relegate YLE to the dustbin of worthlessness. It's been increasingly more "Democratic political health" than "public health expert" for years.

This was also a thread about why chronically ill and disabled ...

2026-01-21T14:23:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…7vz4
_________________________

This was also a thread about why chronically ill and disabled people are absolutely essential members of society who contribute a vital perspective to humankind, and how the ruling class' eugenicist turn is partly about their recognition of this fact and their vile sense of self-preservation at any cost.

If you want to find people with mental strength, agile and resilient spirits, and admirable equanimity in the face of adversity, D/CI people are where you should start.

PS/fin

The world has moved forward (as much as they were allowed) and ...

2026-01-21T14:19:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…se24
_________________________

The world has moved forward (as much as they were allowed) and we've stayed put.

I'm not saying we shouldn't be vigilant or anxious or angry or even outright terrified of what's going on; fascism is scary AF, and it needs to be made into ash and bad memories ASAP.

But keep in mind that part of the fear is the unfamiliar feeling of history lurching forward, and things changing.

And that change actually *can* be for the *better*, despite our ruling class' FUD around it.

/fin

But while I was in the midst of these changes, shit was gnarly. I ...

2026-01-21T14:16:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…6thu
_________________________

But while I was in the midst of these changes, shit was gnarly. I was anxious as fuck, vigilant, grieving, reluctant, resistant, even reactionary. I wanted stuff to go back and be "simple" again.

Except it was never simple; I was just borrowing against the future to live to excess in the present.

We're the same. Shit was never "stable". It was just becalmed. Over the last 50 years we've become *less* prosperous by most measures except imperial wealth extraction.

8/

I grew agile at it. We will, too. We're just stiff from a ...

2026-01-21T14:12:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…g4c9
_________________________

I grew agile at it.

We will, too. We're just stiff from a half-century of paralysis.

A lot of those changes were shit I should've done years earlier, that in the end have made me, on average, *healthier* mentally (and even physically, in some ways) than I was before I developed chronic illness.

These changes to society and geopolitics are the same: shit we needed to do a long time ago, that will, on average, makes us healthier as a planet and a collection of societies.

7/

At 27, I developed three chronic illnesses in the same year. I ...

2026-01-21T14:10:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…vt85
_________________________

At 27, I developed three chronic illnesses in the same year. I went from essentially a healthy person to someone who was always, in one way or another, sick.

I managed my iillnesses and was able to keep most of my life intact (not a sure thing; I was lucky)

But everything changed. It had to.

And it was hard AF. But eventually, the constant adjustments I had to make to my life and expectations grew much easier. It was a part of my life that shit was gonna change.

6/

This difference between now and the past is why I find arguments ...

2026-01-21T14:06:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…d5zy
_________________________

This difference between now and the past is why I find arguments that we're living in the 1930s laughable. I think people who see this as the 1930s are actually engaging in cope; any half-serious look at what life was like then, and what geopolitics was like then, very quickly returns a negative match with today.

By "cope", I mean they're coping with a sense of change and possiblity that they are just *not used to*. Change is hard if you have no practice at it.

Just ask D/CI people.

5/