philfrei.bsky.social
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Perhaps, sometimes, the stance that "everyone does it" is a last refuge of rationalization for having been compromised, i.e., more a defense mechanism (to avoid cognitive dissonance) than a deep conviction.
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The main way to switch off empathy for fellow humans is to convince yourself they "deserve what they get." If you truly believe this, you can exploit people to a horrific extent and still sleep at night, conscience-free.
Campaigns that emphasize victim shaming are moral covers for exploitation.
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Election campaign was a "classic bait and switch" move.
Bait: we will lower prices.
Switch: oh, prices are going to go up for a while but tariffs will (eventually) make America great again and then you will be reimbursed. Meanwhile, we will also need your Soc Sec ID. Thank you for your trust.
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That would likely be Trump's approach, but he'd prefer not having to do even that. If Cesar S. were released, we'd get multiple days of headlines highlighting this blunder & injustice. If Trump stonewalls it's because the case is not headline news anymore, gets buried in the flurry & may disappear.
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I would like to refer people to Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark, and her ongoing research on Trump voters. In the linked conversation she and Bill Kristol discuss measure both leadership and citizens can take to amplify relevant news (which includes science). www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-can-...
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Legit question.
I think Sarah Longwell has good ideas. This isn't specific to scientists, but some of what is discussed here could be adapted for spreading info from scientists.
www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-can-...
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Yes. This could be done with a simple, one-word editorial change: use "claims" instead of "believes".
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Good stuff on Walz's timeline today, yes!
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If I understand correctly, all votes except the budget which is now a "reconciliation" exception to the filibuster. Oh, there are also some court appointments that can't be filibustered. I'm not as up on this as i should be.
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Agreed.
The only way this strategy from Schumer works is if there is a furious opposition launched from the "retrenched" position he has taken.
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This is a valid position, taken by Sanders, OAC, Pelosi, R.Reich, many that I respect.
Schumer didn't want the Senate consumed with long series of no-win votes on either partially funding agencies or blocking the partial with filibuster resulting in no funding.
Where will he draw the line, though?
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I don't know enough to say if he was right or wrong, but he does seem to have valid points worth considering. It's unlikely blocking the CR would have led to GOP coming back with a compromise. They would be able to fire everyone/anyone without any recourse if there was a shut down, if he's correct.
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Have you listened to any of Schumer's explanations? He isn't the clearest, and he may be wrong (likely), but I don't get the impression it was because of not caring.
He was worried about how much worse damage would be done if no courts, no working government, just GOP voting piecemeal to fund it.
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So his choice was between bad or worse. He took bad and limited the damage to 10 Senators that have the best chance of surviving.
We are in a really screwed up position. MAGA was allowed to get too much power in the last election. I think it's going to take mass unified boycotts/protests/strikes.
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Schumer's fear was that the GOP would not compromise or come back with a better CR bill. Instead they would use their majorities to vote funding back in a piecemeal fashion for only those parts of government they didn't want to shut down. And, no working courts to litigate this.
A reasonable fear.
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What would have happened with a shut down. Would GOP compromise, create a "clean" CR?
It worked in the past, but I'm not so sure now. More likely we would have no CR, just GOP voting piecemeal to fund this or that. And no working courts.
Any disagreement with that scenario being what would happen?
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I think Sen. Schumer is saying that the GOP Senate will NOT compromise & create a clean or fairer CR if it is blocked. The danger is the courts shut down (can't litigate) & Congress GOP majorities refund the government in a piecemeal fashion rather than via a CR.
Can you address that argument?
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My issue right now is that Senator Schumer is not being very clear. If I understand correctly, with a shutdown, there's no use of courts to litigate to stop Trump, & the GOP would not compromise to pass a clean CR, but could leave everything unfunded & fund things piecemeal with their majorities.
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And @nieuws.nos.nl public TV news presents it as Mexico bowing to Trump's pressure. No mention of his concession to Sheinbaum.
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This is going to add to the cost of food, given future shortages due to the waste. We all will get what "they" voted for.
Need to find MAGA supporters and ask, is this really what you thought you were voting for?
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I'm getting "Chairman Mao during the Great Leap Forward" vibes.
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are allies. It's better to try to understand their motivation, figure out how to influence & work with people on the highest priorities. It's OK to be angry, but also helpful to wield the anger at the most effective moments.
This is my general temperament, philosophy. Your mileage may differ.
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Did some research, saw that he also held open the possibility that there are aspects of "birthright citizenship" that are maybe worth reconsidering.
I think I agree with you on these two issues, but also think Klein's arguments are worth a listen. Many people share his ideas & opinions and ...
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I work two jobs & am studying/working on portfolio projects.
One of the jobs is physically demanding, is part time, but sometimes runs 6+ hours. I'm turning 68, in good health but have limits.
I think nothing good happens until left & right find a way to work together against billionaires.
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I'm glad we are finding some common ground. I only come back to Bluesky a couple days a week, so apologies for the gaps in the conversation. Thanks for your part in it!
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I haven't been following Ezra Klein. I see him reposted by others sometimes and usually read that. I don't recall anything terrible such as you describe. I'm curious if you have an example.
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I don't know how consistent Bannon is with his populism. There's some debate on this at The Bulwark. Bannon seems less transactional than Trump who has no ethics at all when it comes to rationalizing grift. But I don't like the racism associated with Bannon. I agree not to totally trust him.
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Agreed, Dems have also not been as strong as they should have on this.
My notion is that the main battle right now is between oligarchy/billionaires on one side and everyone else on the other. Robert Reich articulates this better than me.
If Bannon goes after them, I'm not going to discourage him.
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Exactly!!
My deal with right-to-repair is that it has far too many legal exemptions. It needs more teeth and more enforcement.
Example: impossible to find a shop (bike repair, motorcycle repair?) to repair electric scooters. General exemption for conveyances includes motorized wheel chairs.
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I'm not calling for H1B to be thrown away. I want it to stop being abused and overused. It is corporate welfare currently, a give-away that hurts American workers.
If it worked more purely as you describe, and we had more paths for our own citizens to train in STEM, I'm good with that.
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Then there is an enforcement problem. The law is not being followed.
I've known several H1B workers in tech. Their jobs were well within the skills of American workers.
Check out job applications for tech on LinkedIn. There are over a hundred applicants for entry and junior level programming jobs.
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out of work people who are Americans. Maybe there are a few, but quite a few (I've met personally) are working pretty basic programming or engineering jobs, ones that laid off workers could easily fill.
I think you are taking the reasons given by corporations with not enough skepticism.
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Yes, need more/better science educators. Yes, there are many STEM jobs to fill. There are also many laid off STEM workers looking for work. I'd like to see more funds put into developing our own.
I've met many H1B visa workers, have worked with them. Overall: smart, nice, but not smarter than...
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Because you invoked "we can't do shit right" and the reason is NOT lack of H1B visas but, rather, to short term profiteering, lack of competition, laws that let companies get away with planned obsolescence, etc. We've lost the benefits of market economies by allowing too much consolidation.
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"We reach for these denial arguments to salve our consciences."
This occurs for most every act of exploitation. Compartmentalization & denial is now at a maladaptive level & the consequences look to be horrific. If we don't evolve culturally to deal with this, our future is dubious.
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H1B visas are supposedly meant to fill in gaps. But AFAIK, the tech industry has had one of the largest layoff rates. An incredible talent pool is being passed over for this corporate "handout."
How is it that resulting drop in prices (amount debatable) matters more for software than factory goods?
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If "we can't do shit right" anymore, maybe the reason is the way billionaires have corrupted our government, created monopolies, made the few "right to repair" laws meaningless with exceptions and lack of enforcement, etc.
I'm curious have you seen Biden's last speech?
youtu.be/T8vmhmilluM?...