dachte.bsky.social
Interests: Neuroscience, programming, teaching, political theory
Originally Texan, also in love with Pittsburgh. Currently in NYC.
Liberal Technocrat, opposed to a lot of Progressivism.
https://unfocused.substack.com
6,193 posts
187 followers
125 following
Getting Started
Active Commenter
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If an employer makes a hiring decision based on race it's a problem, whether they disadvantage a white or black person.
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*the Elon-Trump spat
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I wish I had answers. These are good questions to focus on.
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Trump doesn't have a lot of stable opinions; I don't think that's part of his mindset.
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Even if so, I think the problem with administrative bloat is the headcount, not the particular people filling the roles. Going after the latter feels like a mistarget.
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Blame - perhaps. But I don't think it's good for us to internalise cruelty.
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Even on the rare occasion that dramatic action is necessary, the least cruel way to do it that still can get the job done is preferable, and it's worth having a lot of hang-ups over the when and what of that dramatic action.
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I'm not a fan of people enjoying his misery. We should not join Trump in being cruel, even if that cruelty is directed at Trump's supporters.
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Ah, nice. I have a copy of that; partway through it. I don't think I've seen that illustration yet, but that'll likely have the full citation. Thanks.
(Was good to see you on Lawfare a few times years ago)
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Where's that cartoon from? Seems really useful; would like to credit it if/when I use it.
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I found another story on this that includes more sample emails and screenshots of the website, and I think that changes things; in my view this is now less clearly edgy-but-ok-advocacy-for-a-cause-I-disagree-with and closer to something pretty ugly.
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Bigotry is dumb no matter the target.
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Usually it reminds me to do things I probably should've done anyhow.
Let's make sure the github repos I maintain have other maintainers too, let's make sure the daily docs I keep at work are accessible by others, etc etc.
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Zero percent? I can see someone working their way to not entirely believing, but if someone literally thinks there's no chance of someone caught doing horrific crimes, likely never being free again and watching their reputation fall apart doing themselves in, that seems like bad judgement.
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Probably actually nothing to see - someone who was caught for a very serious crime, reputation ruined, likely to spend a long time in jail, incrimination of a lot of people he knows.
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I suppose that's one way to get a conspiracy theorist to sober up - give them power.
Although it also generally means you have an incompetent nutter in a position that someone sane with expertise should occupy. All to fix one person.
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Auto manufacturers are supposed to compete on safety.
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I don't think everyone advocating for Palestinian survival/presence/rights is a Hamas supporter. Hoping that's not what you believe.
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Being Independent means I can't participate in primaries. I think it's worth it, but have never been sure of my decision.
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I'm an Independent; was only registered with a political party for a few years during University (with politics I no longer advocate). I think being Independent helps people avoid groupthink to some degree, although my values are definitely more aligned with the Democratic Party.
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I think you've convinced me. I'll give it a go.
I doubt I'll have a lot of success as I'll be writing to the people who proposed the bill I'm currently focused on to convince them to back away from it, but it's important to try.
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That's an idea; wishing it were not so much more of a hassle, but it may be worth it.
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No, calling them that is dumb. NATO serves an important and positive role in the world.
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I know what I feel on a lot of these issues, but I don't know where the definitions would fall around me, and I'm not seeing a lot of reasonable debates over these things. Way more heat than light.
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Is responsible development abundance? Or is abundance "let's build lots of new stuff and ignore consequences and not care about pollution and population levels"? Or is it just "not Malthus"?
Sucks that some would rather call people in other camps evil than talk about ideas clearly/reasonably.
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Because our legislators are not going to be like a military force. If you expect that of any of them, you're not being reasonable.
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I wanted to write to Illinois Congressman Bill Foster about his Chip Security Act, hoping to make the point that it cannot do what it's trying to do and what it will do is horrible overreach (would go into details).
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Trump's efforts against birthright citizenship would take an amendment; imagining he can just declare it and have it be so is disqualifying for someone who wants to be a judge.
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What Tuberville did put the country at risk and was terribly irresponsible. Not to be emulated.
Town Hall? Sure. Might be a good idea.
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Some birds are floating type. Some are even double.
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I voted for him and funded his campaign. Will do so again. Plenty of people like Schumer.
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Unclear what you imagine the minority party can do in cases like this.
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There are plenty of options, but none of them are that appealing, for one reason or another. I really don't want Eric Adams to be reelected.
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"Action" could mean a lot of things but there's only so much a minority party can do. He's put a hold on appointments, he's called out Trump's admin on a lot of its worst actions. Do you have particular things in mind that you'd want that are possible that other pols are doing?
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Really turned out great
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Speculation as to his mindset is just that.
It's worth talking about more concrete things - words and deeds.
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My concern is he'll run things in a way that rewards friends and family (and perhaps , prizes personal loyalty over loyalty to the city, that any women in government will face sexism in the workplace, as well as more explicit corruption.
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Believe it or not, Senators are not given a magic wand. The minority party in the Senate doesn't have a lot of effective power.
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Nah, Schumer is a responsible politician in trying times. The people who keep trying to go after him are in error because they usually don't understand how the Anti-Deficiency Act and government shutdowns work.
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The people going after Schumer when they should be going after Trump are making a mistake.
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I get that and those are plusses, but there are substantial minuses; I don't like seeing politics run like a family business, and it's not hard to bump into people who've worked with Cuomo who describe his admin as both transactional and deeply sexist.
Bloomberg didn't have these defects, AFAICT.