MetaFilter

> not a nazi

US immigration asks if you where not a nazi between 1933 and 1945 specifically.

Communist party member is evergreen.
posted to MetaFilter by NotAYakk at 2:34 PM on December 22, 2023

he has to be defeated at the ballot box

This is nonsense, he already has been. (Twice, but for the electoral college.) If he is allowed on the ballot in 2024 and is defeated again, he and his followers will simply deny that inconvenient fact, as they already have. QED by reality already.

There is no perfect defeat of Trump that should ever be preferred over the simple good of neutralizing the threat that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by LooseFilter at 9:01 AM on December 20, 2023

So after thinking about this overnight, I've had two thoughts. First, I used to believe that the Supreme Court was at least somewhat impartial, or at least judged based on law and their best attempts to interpret that. It's actually rather depressing that I immediately assumed they are going to rule based entirely on their political opinion and the actual law won't come into play except as a fig leaf.

Second, I think if I'm an "old-school" republican, or if... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Eddie Mars at 6:04 AM on December 20, 2023

We got some Liberation Theology from the younger religion teachers at my private, Catholic high school in the 90s. We lacked the history to understand the context, so it seemed extra passionate out of nowhere: we only got the "justice" part and were ignorant of the history of violence.

Now that I am older and know more, it seems self evidently righteous and correct -- but also kind of impossible to implement.
posted to MetaFilter by wenestvedt at 1:40 PM on December 19, 2023

autonomous crime-bots that perform daring daylight jewelry heists

and then flee the scene at three miles per hour while playing a whimsical tune and shouting at bystanders to keep the park clean.
posted to MetaFilter by flabdablet at 8:16 AM on December 19, 2023

Isn't it essentially saying, "You are not married. You are 'living in sin.' But we want you to keep coming to church, so we'll provide a blessing

"But we want you to keep coming to church" is a big deal. Much better than "And we don't want you to come to church anymore." The difference between being able to get a blessing and not being able to get one probably feels, for some LGBT Catholics, like the difference between... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by OnceUponATime at 10:28 AM on December 18, 2023

(part of the reason the saying "Japan has been living in the year 2000 since 1980" works is that the center of mass of their baby boom came 10 years before the US's, so they were able to produce a lot of "Gross National Cool" in the 1970s, when the median US boomer born in 1957 was still in college in 1979)
posted to MetaFilter by torokunai at 10:42 AM on December 18, 2023

‘Maybe we cried too much last year’ is the title of my year-end gothwave mall music compilation.
posted to MetaFilter by chronkite at 12:55 PM on December 16, 2023

Eh, I work retail. The stress comes not from the shoplifting, which is totally overblown, but from the corporate countermeasures, which complicate the work of the employees. Try spider-wrapping every Lego set over $39.99 while meeting your freight metric (gag), and then tell me the source of your trouble, friend.
posted to MetaFilter by Don.Kinsayder at 11:03 AM on December 16, 2023

a huge factor here was reaction against the wave of progressive prosecutors. nowhere got featured more in this hysteria than san francisco and it definitely contributed to the ouster of chesa boudin. in any case this seems like deliberate lying to manipulate public opinion. shouldn’t that carry consequences? someone should be held accountable
posted to MetaFilter by dis_integration at 7:39 AM on December 16, 2023

I hope the news reports on this like they did all of the breathless coverage of this very boring category of crime. WaPo just went back and posted a small clarification note on top of their Editorial Opinion (!) begging for federal intervention on the matter.
posted to MetaFilter by Selena777 at 7:33 AM on December 16, 2023

If you remember, many of the EU members who now are offering much more full support were at first pledging things like 1000 soldier helmets when asked to give aid.

Moving the EU to the point where they're in the position where they're giving pretty healthy aid compared to their means and now taking this vote to move things forward a step as a symbolic rebuke of the US House Leadership holding up further aid to Ukraine, which is exactly what this was... Is a bit of a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 3:41 PM on December 15, 2023

MiraK …It's pure gaslighting. Jesus

You’re welcome to disagree with my premise and my conclusion and all the steps in between. By making a comment, I invited that. But this was a needlessly personal attack. Not every opinion you disagree with is gaslighting (a bad-faith deception tactic - we don’t know each other, but is that who you think I am?). Jesus.
posted to MetaFilter by qxntpqbbbqxl at 3:13 PM on December 13, 2023

Ardent Leftism attracts assholes. Not all Ardent Leftists are assholes.

Ardent Leftism attracts assholes because the Left is so disempowered in the USA. If you're someone who hates on everything, Ardent Leftism is a great way to be hateful, because the system really does suck, and it's shooting fish in a barrel to point this out. Ardent Leftist Assholes drive away potential voters with their assholery and purity tests, because they really just want to complain and seem... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by outgrown_hobnail at 7:27 AM on December 13, 2023

It's the result of the left's circular firing squad. The circular firing squad doesn't always kill the people it shoots at, sometimes it blows some of them right.

I do not think this is the case. I have been involved in various capacities in activist-y stuff since my teens and I am mumble-mumble-Old now.

What happens when good people feel that the left is categorically dumb is that they drop out. They vote... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Frowner at 7:11 AM on December 13, 2023

Shit, I am guilty of confusing Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf

Oh, buddy, oof.
posted to MetaFilter by Horace Rumpole at 6:37 AM on December 13, 2023

> Mastodon is for people who value signal over noise; Bluesky is the new hangout for celebrities

In my experience, Mastodon is great for following science communicators but has the worst busy-body, tone-policing, hall-monitor scolds. Just absolutely terrible levels of "fun fact!", "gentle reminder!" dorks telling you how to post "the right way." Bluesky is a lot like an underpopulated Twitter From The Good Days. Lots of short-form... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by riotnrrd at 3:42 PM on December 12, 2023

“Common English words lower the perplexity score, making a text likely to be flagged as AI-generated,” Goudey told The Daily Beast. “Conversely, complex or fancier words lead to a higher perplexity score, classifying a text as human-written.”

We spend a lot of time at my government job talking about how to say things more simply, so I'm super excited to learn that AI tools are out there teaching the next generation that if they don't write fancy... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jacquilynne at 8:07 PM on December 11, 2023

Except enshittification isn't a critique of capitalism at all. I'm not even sure it's a critique of anything. It's a label for the strategic choice to degrade goods and services without reducing their price, when the investor subsidy that had permitted them to be offered at negative margin is taken away. The vast majority of capitalist activity abjures investor-subsidized-negative-margin sales and so never reaches this inflection point.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by MattD at 7:29 AM on December 10, 2023

I guess the moral here is that if you're going to do crime, make it white collar.

'Do it in camouflage,' surely.


The only other part of the federal government that you can do fraud at scale is in healthcare

DeVos did her best to push it in education.
posted to MetaFilter by snuffleupagus at 5:24 AM on December 8, 2023

somehow we are to believe that the exceptions written into these laws will be enough, that surely people's health will never be endangered, that those who write and impose these laws truly just care about life

This is what happens when a person is in this kind of terrible situation and has the resources available to take her case to court, to appeal for a TRO, to fight for her rights and her health, knowing all the while that the clock is ticking and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by delfin at 7:26 AM on December 8, 2023

I think one weird tension in this conversation is that Robbie actually produced the Barbie film, meaning she conceived of the project and hired everyone involved in making it happen. It's literally something she willed into being, and while she let a lot of people shape it, she selected those people and backed their visions as if they were her own.

Murphy, on the other hand, is just a working actor. He's done a lot of work with Nolan across the years, but he's done a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 3:43 PM on December 7, 2023

So, the real reason Biden hasn't done more isn't because it's actually impossible, it's because he doesn't want to, because he and the part of his base he cares about are a bunch of paranoid racists who want more police and imperial violence and everyone to go back to being God-Fearing Christians.

I was trying to show people that the largest bloc of Dem voters -- which contains the most Black voters -- strongly supports Dem... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Artifice_Eternity at 11:50 AM on December 5, 2023

Well, you've convinced me; obviously, the president is a powerless figurehead. What are we all so worried about, then?

The problem is that the president is an extremely powerful person over people they have direct executive control over and have an incredible amount of power if they're willing to take a giant shit over the rule of law. Not to mention those sympathetic to the said taking a shit over the rule of law are often in the more authoritarian... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 6:47 PM on December 3, 2023

When it comes to student loans, Biden unambiguously said his plan was to forgive $10k per borrower.

Isn't this a thing he literally did, and then SCOTUS said he couldn't do it?

Shouldn't your anger and frustration be directed at the person who made SCOTUS what it is, that it reached that decision, instead of against the guy who did that thing but then was shut down by another separate, yet equal, branch of government?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 4:44 PM on December 3, 2023

I would argue that, if Biden is competent, then many of his actions are deliberate but poor -- the weak and inconsistent work for student loan forgiveness

Sorry, I can't get past this. Not to put to fine a point on it, but: This is a crock.

Biden has moved mountains to attempt student loan forgiveness half a dozen different ways, coming back for round after round against court vetoes. He's forgiven tens of billions of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Artifice_Eternity at 3:51 PM on December 3, 2023

Point being, the occupant of the White House has profound influence on all manner of things, even though s/he can not simply MAKE STUFF HAPPEN on a whim.

Yet. Which is kind of what this thread is about.

Joe Biden is not a threat to our democratic republic system of government because he is very much a product of that system and embedded within that system. He is not alone in that; we expect that of those who are elected... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by delfin at 10:54 AM on December 3, 2023

kittens for breakfast, you are (willfully?) misinterpreting not only a number of comments but also the workings of the US Government.

When it comes to establishing policy, the US President can not legislate by fiat. That's by design - eg, three branches of government. A president can't simply decide to, for example, cancel all student debt and, by virtue of the stroke of his/her pen, it is done.

The closest a president can come to doing so is, in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fingers_of_fire at 9:59 AM on December 3, 2023

It's not that people no longer feel the need to engage in debate. It's that debate is not an effective way of convincing people. People are not willing to be convinced. Politics has become about mobilizing the people who already agree with you more effectively, and stopping the opponent from doing so. War by other means.
posted to MetaFilter by I-Write-Essays at 8:32 AM on December 3, 2023

Here are a few things I've been thinking about making into FPPs (and may yet), but in case I don't get to it:

Mad Poll Disease is making Democrats misread voter opinion, Opinion piece, Michael Podhorzer, Guardian:

Pollsters want voters to tell them who they will vote for next November; voters want to tell pollsters how unsatisfied they are now with the direction of the country and their own lives.

...... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kristi at 7:07 PM on December 2, 2023

I don't really think Trump will be our Sulla. He isn't even a Marius. If anything, he's a Cataline. But his failed attempt will set the stage for the next one.

Great, now I'm thinking of the Roman Empire again.
posted to MetaFilter by ckoerner at 5:08 PM on December 2, 2023

He says, on the internet.
posted to MetaFilter by torokunai at 3:24 PM on December 2, 2023

I had a moving company in the 1980s. One of my customers was LucasFilm. On one occasion Mr. Lucas was attending a big electronics show in Las Vegas, and I drove several of the models there in a van. One of the models was the Millennium Falcon, which is about a meter across. Another was one of several R2D2 robots.

When Mr. Lucas displayed some of his bigger props at the Marin County Fair, we delivered the Death Star and the Land Speeder, complete with manikin as a rider.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Repack Rider at 9:48 AM on December 2, 2023

I think she's wrong, but I don't think it's coming from a place of actual racism or hate. Just a deep sense of betrayal and a bunkering mentality from feeling that the whole world has turned on her.

I disagree. I think it is coming from an actual place of racism and hate. I don't think it's a coincidence that Margulies and other Zionist celebrities like Amy Schumer and Iliza Schlesinger have all specifically called out Black (and to a lesser degree,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by armadillo1224 at 11:30 AM on December 1, 2023

"I'm sorry, you have Florida. There's nothing we can offer, Florida is a pre-existing condition."
posted to MetaFilter by mcstayinskool at 11:22 AM on December 1, 2023

The first line is called hyperbole and is a joke. The second line is not understanding common forms of humor.

Here are three things I believe about humor:
1. Humor is not a magical towel that wipes every statement clean of meaning. On the contrary: humor is a highly effective form of communication.
2. It's OK to joke about literally any aspect of life, because it's OK to communicate about any aspect of life. But...... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by yankeefog at 3:49 AM on December 1, 2023

Newsom is an idiot for agreeing to this. Zero to gain.

AFAICT, zero to lose. Zero to gain? The opportunity to stick a fork in weirdo DeSantis and sell Biden accomplishments (which have been impressive) on alternate reality territory sounds like a plus to me. Maybe he could do Nikki Haley next (she's too smart to take the bait).

Newsom: "There's one thing in closing we have in common, is neither of us will be the nominee... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by 2N2222 at 8:54 PM on November 30, 2023

Antisemitism, global and regional, is a complicating factor

Not particularly, insofar as it is not the motivation behind Israel's mistreatment of Palestinians. It's a justification for the necessity of Israel as a Jewish state, said supposed necessity being used to excuse the ethnic cleansing as just the eggs that had to be broken to make this particular omelette.

The late Tony Judt wrote the following 20 years ago, and in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 5:51 PM on November 30, 2023

As long as we're talking about the government thereof, and also not implying that either October 7th or the subsequent actions in Gaza were or are deserved, I have no issue with that thought.


No-one deserves to be kidnapped, raped, or murdered. However the Israeli government's ongoing mistreatment of the Palestinian population it keeps under occupation and continued building of illegal settlements and continuing random... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 4:08 PM on November 30, 2023

It feels like Anya Taylor-Joy is in everything right now and often not to its benefit but… I’m going to watch this.
posted to MetaFilter by Parasite Unseen at 4:56 PM on November 30, 2023

alluvial flood plain map Here's a famous map of a river flood plain to show how much the path of the river changes its path with colors. I hope it provides some inspiration.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by effluvia at 8:06 AM on November 30, 2023

I do not understand the drama around simply stopping the use of a goddamned social media platform!

I started using Twitter in 2009 because it was the only way I could connect to people who used the same programming language I used. A TON of vibrant communities for that language, both local and international, emerged out of that Twitter scene. It was crucial to my early professional development - and in the 14 years since, I still haven't received any... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by McBearclaw at 9:36 AM on November 30, 2023

Am I the only one grateful to Elon for destroying Twitter?

Q: How do you know if a Metafilter user hates Twitter?
A: Don't worry, they'll tell you.

Every single Twitter thread here for years has had people like you that don't add anything to the conversation but drop nasty one liners. Nevermind that people here have patiently explained the many things that were good about Twitter again and again - the importance to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Candleman at 1:50 AM on November 30, 2023

Okay. So there are two things going on here, and I think people are conflating them and it's making the discussion harder.

There is a difference between what is a war crime (generally agreed upon to be, at a minimum, the legal standards of the Geneva convention) and what is an immoral action in war.

A war crime can be many things, including things people don't think about. For example, technically the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by corb at 6:39 PM on November 29, 2023

I'm fine with agreeing to disagree, but to me it seems painfully clear that the Oct. 7 attacks were terrorism, not war crimes. The casual equation of Hamas and the IDF in comments above also seems, again to me, as so obviously wrong and simpleminded that I'm not quite sure how to respond other than just indicating a lack of agreement and letting it sit with that.

I have to say that I put a fair bit of work into typing up my earlier comment about my... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by armadillo1224 at 4:01 PM on November 29, 2023

Financial Times on war crimes in the Israel-Gaza conflict (TL:DR is, yes, Hamas committed war crimes in hostage-taking and killing civilians). Calling it "terrorism" and not a war crime seems like a convenient way of delegitimising the very notion of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation and accepting the Israeli framing that there is no such thing as Palestine, therefore they can't have a military, and are merely terrorists and not engaged in resistance against occupation.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 3:00 PM on November 29, 2023

This was how the organising body for pro-Palestine marches in Scotland responded to Hamas' October 7 terror attacks: "SPSC welcomes the remarkable gains made by the Palestinian resistance in re-taking land occupied since 1948."

Almost a decade and a half ago now, I was an antiwar soldier during the Iraq War. I remember viscerally being at a meeting, where someone stood up and said something to the effect of, "The Iraqi people have the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by corb at 11:52 AM on November 29, 2023

calling for a ceasefire is tantamount to antisemitism

As far as I can tell, nobody in this thread is currently saying this, though it's certainly part of the discourse in the wider world. What they're saying is that how you call for a ceasefire matters, and that the wider left has been doing so in a way that seems to flirt with patterns of antisemitic discourse (if not outright antisemitically).

Uh, yeah, I'm going to need... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by corb at 3:32 AM on November 29, 2023

If, on the other hand, you want serious engagement with arguments, charitable interpretation, reasoned criticism, empirical evidence, engagement with relevant professional literature, and the like ... look elsewhere.

Can you recommend somewhere specific to look, or is this comment like Effective Altruism itself, where the good stuff outweighs the bad stuff, but all the good stuff is somewhere in a notional future (paywalled, maybe?) and the bad stuff is here now?
posted to MetaFilter by Pickman's Next Top Model at 3:26 PM on November 27, 2023

If, on the other hand, you want serious engagement with arguments, charitable interpretation, reasoned criticism, empirical evidence, engagement with relevant professional literature, and the like ... look elsewhere.

Sure come in a shit on the article and then flounce out without any links to such articles. Also why should EA or e/acc get a charitable interpretation? They’ve in fact been given one over and over and come up lacking every single... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Uncle at 3:11 PM on November 27, 2023