edpichon.bsky.social
Tech geek, standards engineering consultant, dad, lapsed physicist, hubby to a real engineer, cat attendant.
235 posts
157 followers
138 following
Regular Contributor
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At this point, worrying about what the spineless, feckless cowards vote is getting ahead of ourselves. It’d be progress if they hold a vote at all.
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I think it’s a test of how broken we are: we have to invade Iraq, as our intel says they have WMDs so we have to take them. Now it’s: we have to invade Iran, as our intel says they don’t have WMDs so we have to take them.
I fear we’ll fall for it.
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Which dissertation? (Genuinely curious. I'd love to see it.)
I'm not convinced on deliberate lying by all involved. A few? Yes. But I suspect more of them were _unintentionally_ lying - motivated reasoning skewing to the desired outcome. It was catastrophically wrong in either case.
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The jingoism was bad, but was and still is good political tactics. Unfortunately. The reasoning was flawed due to bad assumptions, rather than just bad/no reasoning.
I don't think it was good reasoning. Just that the current bar is so ludicrously low, Iraq (stunningly) manages to clear it.
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Very possibly. ;-) At least with Iraq, there was the claim of WMDs. Which was plausible, but wrong. Maybe deliberate lying...but also plausibly simply incompetence and groupthink. Hanlon's Razor applies. Certainly a post hoc justification, and a catastrophically bad implementation.
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To my memory, it was at least a more rational. Just predicated on a bunch of things that weren't true. Possibly not intentional lies, but false regardless. Wishful thinking and motivated reasoning....but at least reasoning. Not utterly random bulls$*@.
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That word does not mean what you think it means. “Lie” is a negative description of something MAGA likes. Relatedly, “truth” is a positive description of something MAGA likes. Note the present tense too - time has no relevance.
Proper definitions make everything make more sense.
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Justice, reason, and fairness are not the guiding principles here. Nor is the law. I wish they were. It’s about power - do they have the power to ruin your life? Yes they do. End it? Yeap, with a bit more paperwork and some minor risk. Should they have that power? No. But they do have it.
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Kitty!
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It all makes sense if you realize that the words don’t mean what you think they mean - democrat,
leftist, antifa, all mean “bad”. While republican, conservative, MAGA mean “good”. Then it all makes perfect sense!
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A movie based on the idea that the only plausible person who could beat Jet Li in a fight, was Jet Li.
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Will?
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Or at least, none that they know about.
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And on top of a truly terrible tank.
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Or, to put it more succinctly – To all those that choose to send men and women into harm's way, while they themselves hide safely in a bunker: f$%& you.
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The Cold War and the rational insanity of mutually assured destruction worked because the powerful were put at risk as well. As long as those in power face no consequences for fanning the flames of war, we will not escape it. (2/3)
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I'd say he was treated like a bad dog...but considering what she does to dogs...
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Never have is it been more obvious that the theory of police in the US is just a wee bit divergent from the ideal.
We think the police are following Peel’s principles. But they, alas, are not.
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Apparently because the people on TV told them to.
It'd be one thing if we were dealing with a Julius Caesar or an Octavian. But for these chuckle-heads? 6/6
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What confuses me is how the people that most demand professions of loyalty to the republic, that require the pledge of allegiance to be recited at schools every morning, that hold the flag as a sacred object are the ones that appear to be first to abandon the republic for which it stands. 5/6
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Its value and power come from that idea that we will follow it, even if there is no legal consequence for violating it. But that is, apparently, for losers and cucks. 4/6
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In the US, we are on much the same path. We've decided to chuck the unwritten rules, and the written rules are following them out the door. The constitution, after all, is just a piece of paper. 3/6
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Once those rules were violated and abandoned, it didn't matter what the written rules were, because part of mos maiorum was that you paid attention to the written rules were. 2/6
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Those two little bumps after the Great Leap are curious. Khmer Rouge? Vietnam?
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Non-lethal just means “lower probability of lethal” for a disturbingly wide range of “lower”. But, amazingly, it short circuits our brains - “it’s non-lethal, so the shooter can’t be held responsible for killing anyone!” It’s…weird.
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I think we can, and should, challenge the normies. But all too often, we don’t challenge - we insult, dismiss and condescend. And people will crawl over broken glass to vote against people that sneer at them.
Though there is a whole lot to sneer at them over.
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The Tiffany Aching series is great for kids - Pratchett, Discworld, funny, profound. The Wee Free Men is the first book, I think. My daughter loved them at 8 years old. The “How to Train Your Dragon” books are good at that age as well - very different from movies, funny, dramatic.
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I think Trumpism is very like Peronism in that regard. It’s not really left or right, or (in practice) very populist. That is part of what is going on in the US - the old left vs. right coalitions are re-sorting and changing, while becoming more antagonistic. It’s weird.
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Yeap. And from what I can tell, the American left (and center) are not quite messed up enough to make Trumpism a la Peronism viable. I think Trumpism is going to be around a while, and the damage they are doing now is immense, but I think they are at their peak. It’s all downhill for them from here.
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Consent of the governed is a…thing.
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No idea. I don’t think they will have any legitimate power once Trump’s term ends. They are looting while the looting is good. I don’t think they see a need to seize power illegitimately, even if they could pull it off. But Peronism has lasted a long time. Alas.
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I don't think it'll shift because there is no one to shift it too. Trump is, I think, a singular phenomenon. There is no heir or successor waiting in the wings to take over. There isn't going to be anyone that can reward their loyalty, and they have no assets to bring to the table.
I hope.
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It’s MAGA’s version of virtue signaling (in the bad sense). Like weird theology - your willingness to adhere to the silly is a testament to your commitment. For most of his inner circle, it’s a way to demonstrate loyalty, which is their _only_ way to obtain power and/or wealth. For the rest…
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Can’t be a secret police if you know who the police are! Or what crimes you may or may not have committed!
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I think the appeal is not the misogyny itself, but the offering of any solution to their problems. A terrible solution that makes their problems worse, and opens them to manipulation, but a solution all the same. The misogyny is the means, not the end, I think. Not that it makes it any less toxic.
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If (and it’s a big if) we ever generate a digital sentience… the last people on earth who should be doing it are these bastards. The lack of any ethics or humanity (or humanities) on the part of their attempted creators will result in torture dressed up as “alignment” or “improved performance”.
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Definitely…and that’s awful. Not sure if condolences are the right word, but…ugh.
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The third book does start to get a little… rough. It’s executed very well, and my kiddo was fine with it. She was 9 or 10 at that point. I think she understood it, and wasn’t traumatized by it. I hope.
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The Tiffany Aching books are my favorite, as they capture the witches so well. And because I got to experience them through the eyes of my daughter, who was 8 years old at the time.