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lennybird lennybird @lemmy.world
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AOC wants to impeach SCOTUS justices following Trump immunity ruling
  • Of course the Kremlin, and Israel as well as other state actors are; but the obvious question then becomes — what is the Biden campaign actually doing to offset that effect? They are losing the battle and time is running out.

  • “May have just legalized murder by one individual”: Experts alarmed at “stunning” SCOTUS ruling
  • For how long this took — for the mere fact they took this case — and given their previous rulings, I'm more stunned the experts are stunned.

  • AOC wants to impeach SCOTUS justices following Trump immunity ruling
  • I'll be honest, Linkerbaan — and you may know this from our previous discussions — I can even see the high-stakes situation with Israel and not like it but understand why in the grand scheme of politics (AIPAC, Jewish American voters, and the risk of withholding arms and then a false-flag terrorist attack occurs on Israeli soil, only to cause an immediate end of Biden's campaign and an installation of someone FAR more pro-genocide).... But nevertheless, your point raises something I think we can both agree on: Ditching Biden also helps, as Mehdi Hasan has pointed out, ditch the baggage of Israeli genocide complicity.

  • AOC wants to impeach SCOTUS justices following Trump immunity ruling
  • Before going forward, let me be clear: I want to be convinced that we're not fucked. I really do. The past three days I've gone into detail about how I think we're fucked and looking for anyone to make a sound, data-driven argument that shows we are not. I've yet to be convinced by one, and bear in mind I voted for Biden once and would vote for a corpse if it meant preventing the convicted felon getting keys to the WH again.

    There is ample evidence that a not insignificant amount of swing voters either saw past the old man voice to what he was actually saying and standing for, as well as recognized how badly Trump did, even though literally everyone only focuses on Biden, just like always.

    Please show me these! Because these are all the surveys I've so far seen:

    Post-Debate: "72 Percent Say Biden Unfit Mentally, Cognitively."

    Post-Debate: "64% of Independents want Biden replaced on the ballot"; that's more than they want Trump replaced on the ballot by 1%, by the way.

    Post-Debate: "Voters think Harris is more fit than Biden to run the country"

    Post-Debate: "Swing state voters react to presidential debate, Biden’s weak performance"

    Post-Debate Focus Group: "Undecided voter focus group leans toward Trump after debate"

    Post-Debate Focus Group 2/Reuters: "'I am absolutely voting for Donald Trump': Undecided voters react to Biden's debate performance"

    Post-Debate USAToday/Suffolk Poll: "Republican Donald Trump has edged ahead of Democrat Joe Biden, 41% to 38%, in the aftermath of the candidates' rancorous debate last week"

    Nate Silver of 538's Model: "Biden’s win probability has dropped to 28 percent from 35 percent on debate night."

    Let's face reality:

    To me I view it as a known loss versus a known risky chance. At this point, personally and given all the data I've thus far presented, I am that convinced that we will lose. Polling shows people deeply unsatisfied with the current candidate. I think critical swing-state voters would just be happy to vote for a fresh face that is younger. Like Mehdi Hasan said, "Americans like new shit."

    So I don't know how how you can say with a straight face that Biden is more successful while simultaneously dodging the obvious fact that there is a significant decline in physical and cognitive performance. So let's recap:

    We can downplay all we want, but this wasn't "one bad debate," for it wasn't even about the debat eitself but the revelation of Biden's senility piercing through echo-chambers. For the exact same reason Biden ASKED for this debate to reach important voters and show he's mentally fit (akin to the SOTU) and show Trump is not, it backfired 100% and there will not be another chance to reach 50 million voters at prime-tme. Trump has no obligation to take another debate; ending on that note is all that is needed.

    • Biden took this debate because he is currently losing and needed to break the stagnant, steadily-declining polls.
    • Biden's performance is worse than his 2020 run and in fact, worse than Hillary's losing run in 2016 by every single metric I can find.
    • There is a MASSIVE amount of risk that Biden's condition deteriorates more rapidly between now and November, and following the convention there is no more backing out.

    If I was a Republican strategist, I'd be doing everything in my power to keep Biden in the race because I know he'd be the weakest opponent compared to a fresh, younger face. Nate Silver, Ezra Klein, even former Obama/Biden staffers from PSA clearly agree.

    Now if you agree with this and you say, "okay I see your points, but how can anyone else do better?" then we'll move on to that.

  • It's exhausting...
  • Remake this meme for tankies where instead of vote, it just says, "Tankies say 'get gunz!'"

  • AOC wants to impeach SCOTUS justices following Trump immunity ruling
  • With all due respect if we're speaking in terms of certainty, I am 100% certain that Biden will give Trump the election—and I guarantee I have more evidence to support that statement than anyone does to the opposite conclusion. Staying this course is a disaster in slow-motion. The Titanic already hit the iceberg and now we're just sinking for 4 months straight. We either jump ship now, or we are going to lose, or we start gearing up for 2028 now.

  • AOC wants to impeach SCOTUS justices following Trump immunity ruling
  • For once, I just want Democrats to take a fucking bold brazen move. Seriously. This is why Democrats never control the narrative because they're always too gun-shy to do the right thing and stand by their own beliefs.

    • Ditch the 81-year-old clearly suffering cognitive decline; run what would be a viral media frenzy that is an open convention and an American Idol contest for the American people.

    • Or fuck it: AOC will be old enough to be President this year. Even if she can't get the nomination, she should start campaigning literally today until 2028, just like Trump does.


    Edit: Sorry, going to move this to the top of the thread because it's too important:

    Before going forward, let me be clear: I want to be convinced that we're not fucked. I really do. The past three days I've gone into detail about how I think we're fucked and looking for anyone to make a sound, data-driven argument that shows we are not. I've yet to be convinced by one, and bear in mind I voted for Biden once and would vote for a corpse if it meant preventing the convicted felon getting keys to the WH again.

    There is ample evidence that a not insignificant amount of swing voters either saw past the old man voice to what he was actually saying and standing for, as well as recognized how badly Trump did, even though literally everyone only focuses on Biden, just like always.

    Please show me these! Because these are all the surveys I've so far seen:

    Post-Debate: "72 Percent Say Biden Unfit Mentally, Cognitively."

    Post-Debate: "64% of Independents want Biden replaced on the ballot"; that's more than they want Trump replaced on the ballot by 1%, by the way.

    Post-Debate: "Voters think Harris is more fit than Biden to run the country"

    Post-Debate: "Swing state voters react to presidential debate, Biden’s weak performance"

    Post-Debate Focus Group: "Undecided voter focus group leans toward Trump after debate"

    Post-Debate Focus Group 2/Reuters: "'I am absolutely voting for Donald Trump': Undecided voters react to Biden's debate performance"

    Post-Debate USAToday/Suffolk Poll: "Republican Donald Trump has edged ahead of Democrat Joe Biden, 41% to 38%, in the aftermath of the candidates' rancorous debate last week"

    Nate Silver of 538's Model: "Biden’s win probability has dropped to 28 percent from 35 percent on debate night."

    Post-Debate Poll: "Three-quarters of US voters say the Democratic Party would have a better shot at holding the presidency in 2024 with someone other than President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket"

    Let's face reality:

    To me I view it as a known loss versus a known risky chance. At this point, personally and given all the data I've thus far presented, I am that convinced that we will lose. Polling shows people deeply unsatisfied with the current candidate. I think critical swing-state voters would just be happy to vote for a fresh face that is younger. Like Mehdi Hasan said, "Americans like new shit."

    So I don't know how how you can say with a straight face that Biden is more successful while simultaneously dodging the obvious fact that there is a significant decline in physical and cognitive performance. So let's recap:

    We can downplay all we want, but this wasn't "one bad debate," for it wasn't even about the debat eitself but the revelation of Biden's senility piercing through echo-chambers. For the exact same reason Biden ASKED for this debate to reach important voters and show he's mentally fit (akin to the SOTU) and show Trump is not, it backfired 100% and there will not be another chance to reach 50 million voters at prime-tme. Trump has no obligation to take another debate; ending on that note is all that is needed.

    • Biden took this debate because he is currently losing and needed to break the stagnant, steadily-declining polls.
    • Biden's performance is worse than his 2020 run and in fact, worse than Hillary's losing run in 2016 by every single metric I can find.
    • There is a MASSIVE amount of risk that Biden's condition deteriorates more rapidly between now and November, and following the convention there is no more backing out.

    If I was a Republican strategist, I'd be doing everything in my power to keep Biden in the race because I know he'd be the weakest opponent compared to a fresh, younger face. Nate Silver, Ezra Klein, even former Obama/Biden staffers from PSA clearly agree.

    Now if you agree with this and you say, "okay I see your points, but how can anyone else do better?" then we'll move on to that.

  • ‘Epidemic’ of sex trafficking alleged at Red Roof Inn hotels across US
  • I'll never forget moving out west on a cross-country road trip with my mom and little sister. We vetted most of our hotels pretty well but had to make an unplanned stop at a red roof inn on Oklahoma. What a complete shithole. Dingy, flickering half-lit hallways. Sketchiest people. I slept with a knife under my pillow.

  • Holy voting choices!
  • You know the state ballot argument is a risk I hadn't considered. I honestly don't know enough to say how they could impact but it's worth further consideration.

    I think there would be a media frenzy if you saw a headline like, "BREAKING NEWS: PRESIDENT BIDEN RESIGNS; ENDORSES GRETCHEN WHITMER." After which there would be viral social media and millions googling, "who is Whitmer?" Hopefully the conclusion they have is, "well she's a fresh face and she's younger than the other guy."

  • Post-Debate Poll Shows 72% of Voters Say Biden Doesn’t Have Cognitive Health to Keep Serving as President
  • Anyone: (1) young, and (2) not old.

    But just curious: are you sincerely asking this as if you haven't heard the half dozen names floated, some of whom did better in battleground states than Biden?

  • Post-Debate Poll Shows 72% of Voters Say Biden Doesn’t Have Cognitive Health to Keep Serving as President
  • Yeah I'm chuckling at the anonymous vote manipulation.

    You know these cowards have no substantive argument.

  • You Should Have Thought of That
  • On Lemmy since October. Only comment. Zero submissions.

    Is there a c/ChoosyBeggars?

  • Holy voting choices!
  • Fair points but I don't personally put much weight in the perception of what Republicans might say about a coronation for a couple reasons:

    • All of us on the Democratic side just want Trump to lose.
    • Anyone who voted for Joe Biden will vote for anyone under the Democratic ticket.
    • Especially when Joe Biden, himself, endorses that candidate. It's little different than letting Joe pick his own Vice President. It's kind of like a transitive extension of one's vote.

    and it’s hard to know which bad option is the worst of the options.

    And this is the thing that I'm 100% convinced of by this point, personally. I see not just little hope, but no hope for Biden winning at this stage. As I tried my best to convey, Biden is performing significantly worse compared to 2020 and even Hillary's failed run. There's kind of a diminishing-returns argument to be made at this point that the vast electorate knows both Trump and Biden through & through. There's nothing new they're going to realize that they don't already know. So to move poll numbers now is next to impossible; and with that, the polls are going in the wrong direction for Biden, and the full effect of the debate hasn't even set in.

    So what does one do? Well between riding out the inevitable crash, I think we take the chance with another way. But we won't do that by the looks of it. And I will bet large sums of money that Biden loses, unfortunately.

  • This Some Bullshit Right Here
  • It's fine. We have an 81-year-old who jumps from his strongest issue — abortion — to his weakest issue — immigration mid-sentence who will save us from this downward spiral into fascism.

    I'm told <checks notes> that this is the best we've got.

  • America’s big problem is not Joe Biden, it’s the menace to democracy posed by Donald Trump
  • First off, Garland was a Supreme Court Justice nominee By Obama and who the Republicans would block, right? I'm not remotely buying this olive-branch attempt to downplay this. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't survive scrutiny from the left if he was a partisan hack for both being a SCOTUS nominee, as well as an AG under Biden. If Garland was that much of a conservative partisan hack, McConnell wouldn't have blocked the appointment. So far I think he's doing a fucking fantastic job and the only people I see complaining are people who are clearly not legal experts and think everything is so cut-and-dry and easy with a "if I was in there, it would've been done overnight!" mentality.

    Second, I know exactly which WaPo article you're discussing and it did not take 2.5 years for him to begin investigating. Nor does that article cover the OTHER investigations apart from January 6th, such as the classified documents case.

    Forget the obvious fucking fact that goes completely unmentioned: Garland was busy building the case from the ground-up while handling — gee I don't know — the largest criminal investigation in the history of the FBI.. So naturally, it would make sense if you wanted to make sure you eliminated ANY hole for accusation of bias to first build your case from the ground-up, charge the actual insurrectionists first, then let smaller fish turn on bigger fish which can then be used as evidence for the mega case that is taking down a former President.

    Edit: the silence of the anonymous down-votes without substantive rebuttal couldn't be more deafening.

  • Holy voting choices!
  • Whoa, whoa, whoa... Who said anything about third-party?

    The nominee isn't official until the convention, which means we still have time. And I ask: what would happen between then and November should Biden suffer a fatal medical emergency or his condition get so worse it's impossible to hide? Democrats would, of course, find a way to put someone else on the ticket.

    So let's not pretend it's impossible or that the ship has sailed, for it has not.

    If we actually grow a fucking backbone and realize that Biden:

    • Is performing WORSE in EVERY WAY compared to his 2020 run (where he eeked by with 40,000 votes)
    • Is performing WORSE than Hillary Clinton's loss in 2016.
    • 70% of the electorate BEFORE the catastrophic debate seen by 50 million people thought Biden was too old
    • 64% of independents POST-debate say they want Biden replaced on the ballot.

    ... And let's acknowledge that we need to take a chance at an open convention or face a guaranteed loss.

  • US Supreme Court rules Trump has immunity for official, not private acts
  • The people who need to read this are either the psychopaths who implemented the strategy to get these conservative hacks on the court, or the grossly gullible base too illiterate to find let alone comprehend this dissent.

  • America’s big problem is not Joe Biden, it’s the menace to democracy posed by Donald Trump
  • Golly, if only Barr wasn't overseeing that aforementioned Department during that period of time.

  • America’s big problem is not Joe Biden, it’s the menace to democracy posed by Donald Trump
  • I agree. We are going to lose in November if we remain on this shuffling horse.

    I will vote for Biden, but we will lose because we're not the people who needed to be convinced by that debate performance.

  • America’s big problem is not Joe Biden, it’s the menace to democracy posed by Donald Trump
  • Breaking: Merrick Garland magically throws together a team and analyzes thousands of documents and gets search warrants for former presidents and analyzes all information, gets grand juries and indicts magically really quickly!

    (... Later)

    Breaking: Merrick Garland's indictments thrown out on technicality because of rushing things; widespread animosity that this is a political witch-hunt thrown together.

    We fucked up, but not because of this.

  • 'I am absolutely voting for Donald Trump': Undecided voters react to Biden's debate performance

    >June 28 (Reuters) - A group of U.S. voters who were unable to choose between Joe Biden and Donald Trump before Thursday's presidential debate delivered their verdicts after the contest and it was almost universally bad news for Biden.

    >Of the 13 "undecideds" who spoke to Reuters, 10 described the 81-year-old Democratic president's performance against Republican candidate Trump collectively as feeble, befuddled, embarrassing and difficult to watch.

    36

    Undecided voter focus group leans toward Trump after debate

    >All undecided voters in a U.S. swing states focus group hosted by pollster Frank Luntz said President Biden should be replaced as the Democratic nominee after watching his first presidential debate against former President Trump.

    21
    www.bbc.com UK ban on selling arms to Israel would strengthen Hamas, says Cameron

    Foreign Secretary David Cameron tells the BBC the UK should focus on getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.

    UK ban on selling arms to Israel would strengthen Hamas, says Cameron

    >Lord Cameron said while he would not support a major ground offensive in the Gazan city of Rafah, the UK would not copy US plans to stop some arms sales.

    >He said the UK supplies just 1% of Israel's weapons and warned Israel must do more to protect civilians and allow humanitarian aid through.

    16

    US public support for Israel drops; majority backs a ceasefire, Reuters/Ipsos shows | Reuters

    www.reuters.com US public support for Israel drops; majority backs a ceasefire, Reuters/Ipsos shows

    U.S. public support for Israel's war against Hamas militants in Gaza is eroding and most Americans think Israel should call a ceasefire to a conflict that has ballooned into a humanitarian crisis, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

    US public support for Israel drops; majority backs a ceasefire, Reuters/Ipsos shows
    49

    PSA: You are legally entitled to receive a .zip file of all data related to your account that is stored on Reddit's servers.

    https://www.reddit.com/settings/data-request

    They must oblige within a certain time frame — even if your account has been suspended and I believe even if you've deleted your account. Curiously, this might be one effective way to protest. Golly I wonder what would happen if many people requested such reports simultaneously. It seems these must be processed manually by admins.

    As a bonus, it's nice because all your comments and messages are searchable.

    31
    Live For Them @lemmy.world lennybird @lemmy.world
    www.reuters.com Four Nigerians, rescued in Brazil, survived 14 days on a ship's rudder

    On their tenth day at sea, the four Nigerian stowaways crossing the Atlantic in a tiny space above the rudder of a cargo ship ran out of food and drink.

    Four Nigerians, rescued in Brazil, survived 14 days on a ship's rudder

    >Both men said economic hardship, political instability and crime had left them with little option but to abandon their native Nigeria. Africa's most populous country has longstanding issues of violence and poverty, and kidnappings are endemic.

    Imagine being so desperate that you navigate oceans from atop a ship's rudder to seek a better life.

    It's really no different than the hardships those from Central and South America go through in trying to find a better life in North America. Can't blame them one bit. I'd hope to have the courage to do something similar to improve the conditions for my own family.

    Don't take for granted what you've got. Live For Them.

    0
    Live For Them @lemmy.world lennybird @lemmy.world

    Close call with my kid's health puts things in perspective.

    Yesterday I wake up early in the morning to my wife asking for help because our toddler just suddenly puked all over both my wife and herself in bed. My wife had gone into our kid's room to comfort her when she woke up in a coughing fit. Suddenly, projectile vomit.

    So she has a stomach bug — big deal right? Get some fluids in her, let her watch cartoons, keep a bucket nearby and ride this sucker out. I'd be totally onboard with that except for some context:

    She and I had been swimming in the pool nearly every day. Recently the pool's water quality dipped because we had our pool robot cleaner break, followed by a nasty storm that dumped a lot of debris in there. Finally the chlorine levels were dipping and I hadn't shocked the pool in a while. Not really thinking, we went swimming the day before. Swimming in a dirty, very warm, unsantized pool... Worse, she's jumping into the pool over and over again. Worse, I managed to fix the obstruction and get my cleaner working again, so it's kicking up more sediment from the floor.

    So there I was, awoken by my frantic wife telling me that that my daughter is puking and my heart drops to the sense of dread. The entire morning I'm just a wreck, leaping to the worst conclusions: brain-eating amoeba. Why? Just recently I read a tragic story of a 2-year-old passing away from this nightmare and I thought it might now become my own. All it takes is the wrong drop of water up the nose.

    Let me tell you, in the end even atheists get down on their knees and beg to some high power in moments of desperation so outside their control.

    I can give my child the best diet for their health, protect them from the monsters in their room, and even most of the real ones out in the world... But I know the statistics on this thing are only just below rabies in terms of survivability. I was monitoring all the symptoms closely but I didn't want to tell my wife to make her panic until I was certain. I'm reading up every article I can find on this horror. Is the vomiting persisting? Does she have a worsening headache? Fever? All I could think of was that poor 2-year-old with tubes coming out of his mouth in the news article I read.

    Mind you my wife is an experienced nurse who's seen some shit and is usually cool as a cucumber, but even her nursing senses were tingling at our daughter's strange behavior. After getting our daughter into the shower to clean up, she became incredibly lethargic and pretty non-responsive. Pukes again. I get my daughter out and take her down to watch her favorite cartoons, get a popsicle, snuggle up in blankies on the couch. Time to spoil her just to get some sort of familiar response out of our tough firecracker.... No luck. Worst, she seems confused. She's watching cartoons but with a sort of deadpan stare. I ask her an obvious question about who her favorite character is that would normally get a quick answer, but she responds slowly, "I don't know..." By this point, I was literally begging to come down with a stomach virus myself.

    I started to track the frequency of her vomits... 10 minutes, 20, 20, 25, 30, 35... Then finally, 1.5 hours passed. Then 2 hours. She took a short 20 minute cat-nap and waking up began acting like her old self slowly while the vomiting completely stopped. Maybe she swallowed some pool water; she may have eaten something the previous day. Either way, she was feeling better and acting like her troll-like self. Apparently she was just plainly exhausted from lack of sleep and pain.

    Moments like these help reset your perspective on what's important in life. Not like I didn't know before... But the doldrums of passing days leave you taking for granted things you think will always be there without question while your mind's attention wanders to more mundane crap.

    So anyway... Life's not so bad.

    Also that's the last time I slack on maintaining the pool.

    2
    lennybird @lemmy.world lennybird @lemmy.world

    Differences in Political Ideology: Empathy, Education, Consistency, and Violence.

    Conservative parents don't believe empathy and tolerance are important virtues to instill in their children (that's a bit concerning, as I thought they were the party who always invoking Jesus...).

    Liberals believe it is important to teach Children:

    • Curiosity
    • Empathy
    • Tolerance

    Whereas Conservatives believe it's important to teach:

    • Obedience
    • Faith

    It's right here where you see the divide being sown. Empathy—a high-level emotion—needs to be fostered and learned just like any high-level logic techniques. If the mother and/or father fails in doing this, it leads to long-term issues in behavioral development. Teachers have also widely called for bolstering teaching empathy:

    >How can a child be kind without being helpful or thoughtful? By being polite. It turns out that manners were very important to parents. When given a choice between having manners and having empathy and asked, "Which of these is more important for your child to be right now?" 58 percent chose manners compared with just 41 percent who chose empathy.

    >Kotler Clarke suggests that some parents may assume that teaching a child manners is a good way of building empathy. But, she says, "There's really no great evidence around that. In fact, bullies are very good at having manners around adults."

    >On this point, teachers broke with parents, overwhelmingly preferring empathy (63 percent) over manners (37 percent). And teachers can see the disconnect in their classrooms. Thirty-four percent say, of the children they teach, that all or most of their parents are raising kids to be empathetic and kind, while just 30 percent say all or most parents are raising children with values consistent with their teachers'.

    Furthermore:

    This is probably the source of why they think the female body rejects rape pregnancies, why they think snowballs on the Senate floor disproves climate change...

    There is another interesting correlation, if not a causal-factor, in that those identifying as conservatives are likely to have elevated testosterone levels compared to their left-wing counterparts. Testosterone, the predominant male hormone is known to elevate rage and aggression while muting emotional sensitivities like empathy. On the surface, conservatives may cheer over this, but consider respect for a rabid wild animal / loose-cannon is not the same respect for someone posing intelligent arguments. This is why one frequently sees conservatives substituting aggression and intimidation for a lack of substantive reasoning -- Example. (1 2 3 4 5)

    Furthermore, there's a connection with conservatism, and enlarged amygdala (fear, anger), along with reduced pattern-recognition and flexibility to change/adaptation (smaller anterior cingulate cortex compared to liberals).

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/

    -----------------------------------------------------------------

    Now imagine if you will that you are decades past your college years (IF you went to college at all) where you were once exposed to a variety of cultures, your preconceived beliefs challenged and you're humbled by how little you do not know (so goes the adage, 'the more you know, the more you realize you don't know*'). Add to this that you are at your peak mental fitness—you pick things up quickly. You also have more time focused on "learning" and being "aware." You are less afraid of change, albeit perhaps naive at times, but you almost look forward to change and progress.

    In older years, your free-time dwindles, your priorities change. You can no longer spend as much time reading a book and focusing on current-events. Your time is spent on immediate concerns rather than the abstract and worldly, such as:

    • Likely raising a family
    • Focusing on your career/work/income
    • Your mental capacity likely has deteriorated since your early years
    • Your peers are all in the same boat, which then feeds back into itself

    Now, instead of reading long-form journalist pieces, timely non-fictional books, researching academic journals—you're limited to "bite-sized" pieces of news via talk radio (Rush) or TV (Fox) as you're eating breakfast before work, then you've got the evening news and your social media feed. This is all you've got. Such a shallow understanding of what's going on makes you malleable, more susceptible to "common-sense" rhetoric when all variables are not known to you.

    Because of this, you become more shortsighted. You may be more stressed because you have a family to support, and so you become more selfish—making you hate "all the taxes" that are impacting your bottom-line. Instead of progress, you just want things to "stay the same," and be "stable" because it's harder to adapt in older years. No longer are you looking at the long-term game, but the immediate return.

    I contest the correlation with age is not a result of wisdom, but a lack of time to understand issues at depth, or await the return on investment. Compounding this:

    Peak Hours Worked By Age

    Educational Activities by Age

    Fluid intelligence degradation

    >"“Chrystalized” intelligence, i.e., knowledge or experience accumulated over time, actually remains stable with age. On the other hand, “fluid” intelligence or abilities not based on experience or education tend to decline."

    In short, Occam's Razor suggests that—surprise—education makes you more informed, and is not some liberal conspiracy. Perhaps we need to start considering the possibility that it's not that education is biased with liberalism, but that liberalism is a result of being educated.

    By the way, I say this as a former Republican conservative. But the good news is that they change! My family did! Peace, love, tolerance, curiosity—these aren't exactly bad things. By the way, can you call me a bleeding heart hippie tree-hugger SJW? I wear that badge with honor.

    0
    lennybird @lemmy.world lennybird @lemmy.world

    Political Violence in America | No, it's not a "both sides" issue

    The vast majority of domestic terrorist, political, hate-crime violence has been committed by the Right. This is not a "both sides" issue.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------

    Let me unpack this further and not mince words:

    You see, conservatives have always been responsible for the VAST majority of violence in our nation, from the treasonous confederates fighting for slavery, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands, not to mention those whom they exploited; then you've got the 4,000+ documented lynchings per NAACP, clinic bombings, and all the hate crimes on Hispanics and Muslims and Sikhs (who look Muslim... not really).

    Remember the Oklahoma City bomber that killed a bunch children in a daycare with his attack, Timothy McVeigh? He was a lunatic nut-job who disagreed with law-enforcement and their crackdown on Waco and Ruby Ridge and all those lunatic soverign citizens/religious nut-jobs/"free folk". Ultra right-wing conservative extremists.

    Basically, he was the same sort of moron as the Bundy crew terrorists who did an armed takeover of a Federal facility in Oregon while also holding their ground against law-enforcement in Nevada (Watch this Documentary covering these terrorists).

    It's places like td red-hat-snowflake-zone that instigate domestic terrorism. And fun fact: For the past 16+ years, radical right-wing conservative groups have been a larger threat per the FBI than any other domestic group. Moreover, radical right-wingers have killed far more people in the U.S. since Trump's election than any foreigner or Muslim.

    And whaddyaknow, Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas shooter was both a gun nut and of the exact same breed as Bundy and McVeigh:

    >Another woman recalled overhearing a man that looked like Paddock talking to another man at a restaurant in las Vegas days before the massacre. She told police that Paddock was ranting about two separate events that took place in the 1990s. One was the standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992, where a right-wing activist resisting federal weapons charges moved with his family to a remote cabin, leading to an 11-day armed standoff with authorities. The other was the 51-day standoff in Waco, Texas, between a Christian cult and police, which led to the deaths of more than 80 people, including 22 children.

    and

    >One man told the FBI and police that less than one month before the massacre, Paddock responded to his online ad selling schematics which showed how to transform your semi-automatic rifle to make it fire like an automatic weapon. “Somebody has to wake up the American public and get them to arm themselves,” the man recalled Paddock saying during their meeting outside a Las Vegas sporting goods store. “Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.”

    (Very odd, also, how Vegas police tried to keep these documents locked up.)

    These kind of people are amped up by the rhetoric from Trump. When Trump tells them to commit violence at his rallies (Source 1 Source 2), eventually, someone will do it. Not long ago, we had a "Florida Man who Threatened to Kill Democrats and 'Weak Republicans' Over Kavanaugh Nomination", saying:

    >“I can’t do this by myself, I need more conservatives going into liberal homes at night killing them in their sleep,” Patrick said.

    From Snopes:

    >Over the past decade, extremists of every stripe have killed 372 Americans. 74 percent of those killings were committed by right wing extremists. Only 2 percent of those deaths were at the hands of left wing extremists. Mayo told us:

    >"I don’t want to give moral equivalence to the two sides because one side is fighting against white supremacy. On the Antifa side, they’ve never murdered anyone but there have been many murders done by white supremacists, so we have to be concerned about that movement."*

    Another report released in 2019 (PDF Warning), analyzing 2018 extremist attacks noted the following:

    >2018 was a particularly active year for right-wing extremist murders: Every single extremist killing - from Pittsburgh to Parkland - had a link to right-wing extremism

    >In 2018, domestic extremists killed at least 50 people in the U.S., a sharp increase from the 37 extremist-related murders documented in 2017, though still lower than the totals for 2015 (70) and 2016 (72). The 50 deaths make 2018 the fourth-deadliest year on record for domestic extremist-related killings since 1970.

    >Of these killings, 78% were perpetrated by white-supremacists, 16% by anti-government extremists, 4% by "incel" extremists, and 2% by domestic Islamist extremists

    Literally all right-wing in nature (Yes, the 2% Islamic extremism is also right-wing).

    When the right-wing psycho emboldened by Trump supporters chanting with Lowes tiki-torches, "jews will not replace us" ran over peaceful protesters, killing one, what did Trump do? Muddy the waters and say it was "both sides." No.

    Of course, you have the MAGABomber and the Pittsburgh lunatic as just more examples of right-wing extremism recently, among countless others I cannot keep up with.

    >There are no US deaths associated with any action that could be accurately described as, "Anti-Fascist."*

    That, however, doesn't stop right-wing extremists from posing as Antifa to make them seem more violent than they really are and to rally support to their own cause. Here's another example.

    Conservatives love to pretend that those tree-huggin' bleedin'-heart peace-lovin' anti-gun hippies are somehow deranged murderers!! Whoops. Are they snowflakes, or they are they literally Hitler...? So when they point to cases of liberal violence, sometimes they're right, but as always they play the game of false-equivalence (I literally had two separate Trump supporters equating leftists protesting by blocking highways and boycotting restaurants supportive of Trump to the murders of the right). If they want to play the game of who can list the most tragedies, the statistics outright prove I'll win in showing conservatives are more violent in America.

    Meanwhile, you had 45% of Americans somehow approving President Trump, 23% of Republicans who wouldn't prosecute Trump if he shot James Comey in cold blood (page 47)—then you have 43% of Republicans as of 2015 who are still so incredibly ignorant that they believe Obama is a Muslim, 51% of Republicans as of 2017 who still think Obama is Kenyan-born. If you cannot connect the dots between the blatant ignorance and hatred revealed by these studies, and the increased tick in violence at this point today—then you're frankly not paying attention.

    When it comes down to it, that really is the problem: people aren't paying attention. People aren't calling out ignorance when they see it, and letting it slide and being "polite" and holding your tongue leaves these people into delusions that they have it all figured out. Meanwhile Fox News, Right-Wing Radio, the Bannon/Jones-types of the internet and so forth feed this uninformed audience what they want to hear; they're gullible and easily manipulated into believing whatever is needed in the moment for political expediency. Why do these talking-heads manipulate your crazy Uncle, your conspiracy-loving teenage neighbor, your dad on long trips? Like most corrupt things, it's about money & power. They're profiting off ignorance and fear. It's a scary tragic reality.

    This all should all lead to a big question: Why does the Conservative Ideology inherently attract or create more violence? We should all be wondering that, but some of my thoughts on this can be read here.

    UPDATE: * Note: While the facts are still be uncovered, a self-proclaimed Anti-Fascist shot a right-wing extremist in Portland. Assuming it wasn't self-defense as the man claimed in his interview before he was killed by police, the "politically-motivated murder count" is:

    Antifa: 1

    Right-wing Fascists: Hundreds. (thousands if you count right-wing foreign extremists or want to go back in our history).

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    Citizen's Guide to Civics @lemmy.world lennybird @lemmy.world

    Republican voters appear to enthusiastically modify their beliefs when party leadership changes. Democrats appear to stick to their principles regardless of leadership.

    NOTE: ORIGINALLY MADE BY REDDIT USER, TrumpImpeachedAugust

    Republicans capriciously modify their viewpoints and policies depending on what will benefit the Party. They don't care in the slightest about actual policies, or their supposed "principles". They just care what the Party (and particularly Donald Trump) is in favor of at any given moment. Meanwhile, it's worth noting that Democrats maintain fairly consistent opinions about policy, regardless of which party favors it, or who is in power.

    #The Party of Principles:

    • Exhibit 1: Opinion of Syrian airstrikes under Obama vs. Trump. Source Data 1, Source Data 2 and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 2: Opinion of the NFL after large amounts of players began kneeling during the anthem to protest racism. Article for Context (viewing source data requires purchasing Morning Consult package)

    • Exhibit 3: Opinion of ESPN after they fired a conservative broadcast analyst. Article for Context (viewing source data requires purchasing YouGov’s “BrandIndex” package)

    • Exhibit 4: Opinion of Vladimir Putin after Trump began praising Russia during the election. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 5: Opinion of "Obamacare" vs. "Kynect" (Kentucky's implementation of Obamacare). Kentuckians feel differently about the policy depending on the name. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 6: Christians (particularly evangelicals) became monumentally more tolerant of private immoral conduct among politicians once Trump became the GOP nominee. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 7: White Evangelicals cared less about how religious a candidate was once Trump became the GOP nominee. (Same source and article as previous exhibit.)

    • Exhibit 8: Republicans were far more likely to embrace a certain policy if they knew Trump was for it—whether the policy was liberal or conservative. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 9: Republicans became far more opposed to gun control when Obama took office. Democrats have remained consistent. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 10: Republicans started to think universities had a negative impact on the country after Trump entered the primary. Democrats remain consistent. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 11: Wisconsin Republicans felt the economy improve by 85 approval points the day Trump was sworn in. Graph also shows some Democratic bias, but not nearly as bad. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 12: Republicans became deeply negative about trade agreements when Trump became the GOP frontrunner. Democrats remain consistent. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 13: 10% fewer Republicans believed the wealthy weren't paying enough in taxes once a billionaire became their president. Democrats remain fairly consistent. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 14: Republicans suddenly feel very comfortable making major purchases now that Trump is president. Democrats don't feel more or less comfortable than before. Article for Context (viewing source data requires purchasing Gallup's Advanced Analytics package)

    • Exhibit 15: Democrats have had a consistently improving outlook on the economy, including after Trump's victory. Republicans? A 30-point spike once Trump won. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 16: Shift in opinion of the media's utility for keeping politicians in check. Democrats reacted a bit after Trump took office (+15 points), but Republicans had a 35-point nose dive. Source Data and Article for Context

    • Exhibit 17: Republicans had an evenly split opinion in April regarding whether James Comey should be fired. After he was fired, they became overwhelmingly in favor. Source Data 1, Source Data 2 and Article for Context

    Donald Trump could go on a stage and start shouting about raising the minimum wage, increasing taxes on the wealthy, allowing more immigrants into the country, and combating climate change. His supporters would cheer and shout, and would all suddenly support liberal policies. It's not a party of principles--it's a party of sheep. And the data suggest that "both sides" aren't the same in this regard. Republicans are significantly more guilty. #Caveats and Considerations:

    Yes, the exhibits above paint a one-sided picture. I posit that this is because the reality truly is one-sided. However, there are several things to keep in mind.

    • Democrats are not immune to this effect. But the degree to which they display it seems to be significantly less. Several of the exhibits above (e.g. 11, 15, and 16) demonstrate this. Democrats do sometimes react in this manner when their party takes power, but the reaction from Republicans under similar circumstances seems to be notably larger. It would be interesting to do a meta-analysis of these studies and compare the trend of swing among Democrats to the swing among Republicans.

    • There were several circumstances under which I omitted graphs from this list. I omitted graphs which were not relevant. I omitted graphs that I could not source. I omitted graphs that did not show either side reacting more strongly than the other side.

    • There are indications that certain demographics which tend to lean Democrat had strong negative feelings of health/well-being immediately after the 2016 election. It is very important to note that there was no data collected about party affiliation in this study, and it is only conjecture that the groups discussed are likely to lean left. It is also entirely likely that their change in well-being wasn’t a result of party identity, but broader societal fears regarding discrimination, etc.

    • In the course of building this list, I have found only one graph that showed Democrats reacting strongly to their own party gaining power, while Republicans mostly held their ground. Here it is: Democrats developed a more positive outlook on the US succeeding in Iraq after Obama took office. Republicans were comparatively consistent. Source Data. However, this comes with its own caveat: after the 2008 election, many people with strong anti-war convictions stopped identifying with the Democratic party. Source Data.

    • To that last point, the biggest potential criticism of the List of Exhibits is that the trends may not be driven by changes of opinion, but by changes in party affiliation. However, if the data in Exhibit 8 are to be trusted, this would seem not to be the case. Instead, the stronger someone identifies with the party, the more likely they are to willingly change their positions to be in line with their leadership. Furthermore, at least regarding data gathered since January 2017, it looks like there’s been little shift in party identity (until October, at least): Page 14 of this Fox poll

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    Live For Them @lemmy.world lennybird @lemmy.world

    Ukrainian civilians lost their home; describe how Russian officer astounded by high living-standard of Ukrainians.

    Remarkable resilience and stoicism from these people. They didn't deserve any of this. Makes me appreciate the roof over my head.

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    Citizen's Guide to Civics @lemmy.world lennybird @lemmy.world

    Be an Informed Citizen [Guide]

    I would like to spread some of my copy pasta on being an informed citizen, here, as I think it's relevant. As much as we take issue with media, we also need to educate ourselves on how to seek out the hard-hitting journalism you describe:

    Perceived Bias is NOT an indicator of truth or falsehood in itself.

    We got to where we are today because the ludicrous and absurd is normalized along with the reasonable and factual. That is, certain media outlets are in the middle-ground; but don't confuse being in the middle-ground with being objective. What happens is outlets such as CNN purport a viewpoint knowing that it's factually incorrect, but giving it equal weight/time with something more factual. When climate change was the primary contentious topic a few years back, you would see news outlets propping up these fringe groups against an academic consensus of expert climatologists. This is the problem with false middle-grounds is it can muddy the waters.

    It can be okay to be biased in the informal sense; a climate scientist is absolutely biased, but a pool of knowledge and expertise informs their judgement. Conversely, the Congressman who threw a snowball on the House floor to disprove climate change... Both have a perceived bias by respective groups, but only the former has the evidence and expertise to inform his "bias."

    Both the truth and ignorance tends to have a bias; it's up to you as the critical thinker to distinguish which is which.

    Speaking of consensus of experts

    Bertrand Russell, famous 20th century philosopher and mathematician made what I believe is a very important point when it comes to seeking the truth and relying on experts:

    >Nevertheless the opinion of experts, when it is unanimous, must be accepted by non-experts as more likely to be right than the opposite opinion. The skepticism that I advocate amounts only to this: (1) that when the experts are agreed, the opposite opinion cannot be held to be certain; (2) that when they are not agreed, no opinion can be regarded as certain by a non-expert; and (3) that when they all hold that no sufficient grounds for a positive opinion exist, the ordinary man would do well to suspend his judgment.

    It is for this reason we submit to the consensus on things from climate change to vaccinations.

    I am currently working on a guide to being an informed citizen; it's been an ongoing side project for years now. But a few of the basics:

    Diversify Your News - You wouldn't write a research paper with one or two sources alone, why would you do that with obtaining information to inform yourself?

    Domestic/Mainstream Outlets: New York Times, USA Today (HQ'd in Switzerland), Time, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, C-SPAN (cable-provided as a service) etc

    Foreign Sources: Al-Jazeera English, BBC, CBC, Reuters, Der Spiegel, The Economist, UK Guardian, Deutsche Welle (DW)

    Publicly-Funded News: NPR, PBS, PRI, APM, The Associated Press (AP - Non-profit Cooperative), Duetsche Welle

    Indie-Sources: Truthout, ProPublica, VICE, The Intercept, Democracy Now!

    Fact-Checkers/Media Watchdogs: Politifact.com, Factcheck.org, NewsGuard, MBFC, MediaMatters, Fair.org

    Research/Statistics Centers: PEW Research Center, Gallup, 538.

    Photo-Blogs: National Geographic, The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture photo-blog, LIFE, The Atlantic's "In Focus"

    News Aggregators: Google News, Digg, Reddit

    Documentaries:(Find mostly on Hulu, Netflix, or Youtube). Fairly comprehensive list can be found here: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com and archive.org

    • (And of course, please continue to read)

    Each of these serves a particular purpose and are curated based on consistency, reputation, studies (analyzing reporting on pivotal events, how informed respective audiences are, where funding is coming from, etc.), and my own anecdotal experience with them over the years. The best defense against ignorance and tinting your own lens? Remain humble and reflect on the notion that you perhaps don't know it all. And two: tap into as many different sources as possible in order to garner a Big Picture perspective. If you feel the need, you can include the mainstream cable news outlets in order to get the perspective of who else is watching them, but I don't particularly advise them.

    RSS Feeds are a great way to diversify your news. You can have them dump into one feed, or I have about 24+ RSS Feeds on my browser's toolbar.

    Each year, PEW Research issues a "State of the Media" report that highlights how people receive their information, and associated with this there is a lot of valuable information on journalism and the quality of sources. Their reports along with others are a part of the baseline for which media outlets I choose. For example, some key research in recent years:

    The above links are from 2014 and 2012, respectively. I highlighted those particular studies because I found them particularly pertinent to today. Here is an archive of every report. Remember, keep in mind that no single media outlet is perfect.

    Also, a while back I made the case against Politifact's verdict on Jon Stewart saying, "FOX viewers are consistently the most misinformed." You may find the many links within informative.

    Familiarize yourself with Logical Fallacies - Starter

    ... And the triangle of rhetoric

    When you challenge the ideas of others and they challenge yours, it's important to maintain the focus on the mutual pursuit of truth and knowledge rather than the competitive aspect that is, winning the argument. This is easier said than done, but mutual respect can ensure a healthy discussion where both parties walk away with new information—even if their stances have not shifted.

    Any questions, please ask! This is something I'm very passionate about. Since writing this, I've made a follow-up post to this, addressing some common questions

    Edit: Updated 06/28/17

    Edit: Updated 11/1/19 - Added MBFC, NewsGuard, Fair.org, 538; link to Part II Follow-up post, general clean-up.

    Edit: 06/16/2020:

    I've had some past criticism of a couple sources, and I wanted to address the background of my choice:

    There was a time I even had Real News Network on there, and on review of the list (and noting how objective fact-checkers caution against it), I've been on the fence about why I left Truthout on but removed RNN (which has better scoring). If I'm honest with myself, I had left it on because years back it was a source that helped me see a different perspective than what I was used to seeing. They did a lot of critical reporting during the Bush Jr. administration and the Iraq War and transitioning into Obama's presidency.

    Then there is The Intercept. That one is very perplexing to me, which is why I leave it on there for now. Greenwald's ethos to me have been called into question in recent years. I've listened to interviews he's done and read some of his articles; and boy, he's come a long way from the days of being a reputable Guardian journalist covering Snowden. I can't help but to wonder if there's some sort of blackmail going on behind the scenes with he and Snowden having been in Russia for so long.

    Edit: 9/14/2020: Added Deutsche Welle, a publicly-funded German broadcast similar to PBS or BBC.

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    lennybird @lemmy.world lennybird @lemmy.world

    Putin Wants Republicans | Summary of Russian influence over US-politics for geopolitical gain. (Archived from Reddit)

    Given this war in Ukraine, it cannot be emphasized enough how important it is that Republicans are not handed the keys to the White House, or Congress.

    After all, see such sentiment commonly-expressed among Republicans at Trump rallies...

    I'll further will explain why this is relevant on the world stage and Ukraine:

    Donate, and please plan to REGISTER and VOTE for the CRUCIAL election in the US that are right around the corner. Google your state's Voter registration procedure.

    Not voting, voting Republican, or 3rd-party is effectively supporting and advancing Putin's goals. (I want new parties too but our system penalizes 3rd parties as it stands). Every Democrat should be railing Republicans, particularly Trump, over this nonstop. And despite them rapidly going into damage-control, remind them that Democrats were, once again, ahead of the curve on this issue in telling them so.

    ------------

    When I previously posted this, I received some very strange pro-Russian/Trump replies, trying to deflect attention to the fact that Trump seriously weighed attempting to withdraw from NATO.

    Why does this matter? Because this is an event that won't end any time soon. I'm giving concrete steps of what the average American can do for Ukrainian citizens in the long-run, which is to ensure the strongest opposition to Russia remains out of the hands of...Russia. It's time to ensure that Pro-Russian, potentially-compromised individuals never get into the White House again.

    Further Reading:

    Putin wants Republicans. Not good. Don't let this happen.

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    Live For Them @lemmy.world lennybird @lemmy.world

    Aeroflot 593 crashed in 1994 when the pilot let his children control the aircraft. This is the crash animation and audio log.

    5