But I will say, the historian in me knows that decline is a choice, that we can do better.

Our forebears beat the same sort of assholes in 1945 and their forebears beat the same sort of assholes in 1865 and the result wasn't perfect, but it was not decline - it was real, actual greatness.

If someone can decide that another person's demographic is unworthy of humanity, they can also decide that yours is. Adjacency to them will not save you. All adjacency will do is give you a false sense of comfort that makes the inevitable betrayal more shocking.

If your point-of-view rests on collective responsibility without the need to assess individual culpability, you're PoV is that inherent characteristics of the group exclude that group from being human and we all know exactly where that leads.

The foundation on which good people must agree is that *all* people are individual people and must be afforded the liberties and responsibilities which come with agency. If we can't agree on that then we're left arguing about who has earned humanity and that's catastrophic.

They’re telling me a great empire will be destroyed if I attack Persia. Even the oracles who don’t like me very much, very nasty, they all said to me, “Sir, it’s one of the great empires, and it’ll be destroyed. And all because you attacked Persia.” That’s what they’re telling me.

But the Americans are like us. Almost every European country is 1-2 bad elections removed from being taken over by the far-right, so let's not pretend this is a uniquely American problem

Imagine if Biden hadn't been totally up his own ass and an egotist to the end, we could have had someone halfway decent instead of either of those two.

This really is the dumbest timeline

ein sozialstaat der den leute einfach das geld auszahlt und sie ansonsten in ruhe lässt, wäre wesentich billiger.

the "and you're surprised by this?" guys have never been less vital than they are right now

We’ve spent years trying to fact-check our way out of this, and it failed. Democratic decay isn’t about bad information versus good information, it’s about the collapse of the systems that turn information into reality. If every bot and Russian troll vanished tomorrow, the rot would still be there.

Pick up that can!

A problem with current geopolitical analysis is how in its lack of attention to internal dynamics of great powers it does not take adequately into account how increasingly wild external projection of power by the US, Russia and China is driven by their growing domestic fragility

A piece of paper that says, in all caps: "A COMPUTER CAN NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE THEREFORE A COMPUTER MUST NEVER MAKE A MANAGEMENT DECISION"

The whole "Grok admits" "Grok apologizes" thing reminds me of the famous IBM presentation quote that evidently everyone has forgotten. And I do think representing your brand on social media counts as a "management decision".

It’s a dark night when you look at the news and are forced to admit that you no longer believe in the power of the FIFA peace prize

Did not appreciate this as tragedy and definitely not finding it funny as a farce.

That's this whole administration, I think, they were all very obviously deeply wounded by their upbringings in ways that just broke them as human beings.

They are irreparably hurt people channeling their rage at their own spiritual wounds into violence at an incompressible scale.

Wir schimpfen ja gerne über EU-Regularien, aber sie retten Leben. Die EU-Biozid-Verordnung Nr. 528/2012 ist der Grund, dass tödliche Vergiftungsfälle mit hochgiftigen Pestiziden in Wohnräumen wie wohl zuletzt in Istanbul in der EU praktisch ausgeschlossen sind.

wadephul war wenigstens mal in syrien.. keiner von den plärrhälsen aus der union würde da auch nur eine woche leben wollen. es gibt stadtteile in damascus, da wird die zerstörung mit puren händen aufgeräumt.. ohne schutzgerät oder sonstiges.

hier regiert die dummheit. und der kanzler führt sie an.

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

People are not "illegal". We never say someone is "an illegal taxpayer" when they make mistakes or lie on a tax return. So we should not say "illegal immigrant" or "illegal alien". It's dehumanising and immoral.

If your anti-imperialism requires denying atrocities, attacking victims, and shielding dictators, it’s not anti-imperialism. It’s just inversion, reactive, predictable, and morally bankrupt.

Der falsche Glaube, dass Empathie ein Nullsummenspiel ist und ich das Leiden von X nicht anerkennen kann, ohne damit das Leiden von Y zu minimieren, ist einer der größten Hürden auf dem Weg zu einer besseren Welt.

Photo of Tom Lehrer

My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.

Once more: We deserve to be ruled by a better class of scoundrels.

all i want is to one day own a modest sized home in a walkable neighborhood and raise money for shelter animals. wear an outfit i like, walk to the grocery store, buy some nectarines, feed cats, and live in peace. just don't understand why achieving this is so hard

Here's my personal recommendation for social media platforms: Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.

"Medusa" ist russisch für "Qualle"... Passt ja optisch auch