• 0 Posts
  • 66 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: July 16th, 2023

help-circle

  • It’s a ridiculously fucking crass thing to say huh? But like it comes from a place of that’s not my country, my country supports and actively participates in the genocide of Palestinians. This feels worse because I feel partially responsible because I’m a citizen. I don’t have the power to change anything but I feel like I’m failing by not succeeding in changing anything.

    In this regard it’s hard to rank any country participating in a genocide as particularly worse than another. There still is a ranking, like I would still rather live in the US than Sudan, but it definitely levels the playing field between the US and China. It’s not flat but it’s so much closer than before 2023. Both seem pretty damn shitty right now.

    This isn’t even to bring in ICE and the genocide or country is committing against people of Hispanic origin. But like if you want to argue the genocideness of US Immigration actions, we’ve been oscillating between #5 and #8 since rump 1 if not since Obama was in office. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_stages_of_genocide

    Shit’s really fucking bad and we need to be taking it more seriously as citizens of this country. I also really don’t want to get shot or arrested by our police or immigration.





  • Just a heads up, the Washington Post is considered the an oligarch paper over here. It’s owned by Jeff Bezos and rarely is anything published which might try to push back on a finances first narrative that puts money before people. The people who still follow it are already million or multi-millionaires or believe that some day they will obtain that much money, and they might with the way inflation is going.

    It’s “Liberal” only in that it pushes for business liberty which I think is the simplest definition of Liberalism in Europe. As a USian I read that and think, “Why would anyone think WaPo is Liberal?”

    I would consider WaPo a conservative paper. But like with the definition of conservative we used until I was 25. Meaning a tight fisted, push for no spending, fewer taxes, if YOU want your kid educated YOU have to pay for it YOURSELF, but we’re cool with gays and blacks and other minorities, type of conservative.

    But that type of thinking is now “Woke” according to our far right which currently controls our entire government. And that somehow makes WaPo a Liberal paper on comparison. Advertising works I guess.

    If you want to know what progressives or really just what our big cities think I’d recommend googling smaller papers or magazines. I’m not saying there isn’t some crazy right wing stuff out there too but here’s a smattering:

    Seattle: https://www.thestranger.com/

    Denver: https://www.westword.com/

    Chicago: https://chicagoreader.com/ https://blockclubchicago.org/

    NYC: uhhh I never lived here so… Wikipedia has a list of print media! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_City_newspapers_and_magazines

    I’m not sure Westword is the same as it once was or frankly any of these but they’re all smaller than Jungle Oligarch Daddy’s paper. Possibly owned by less agent oligarchs, I don’t know but it’s a place to start.


  • I can’t know for sure but I think it’s a safe bet that you lose everything you can’t get friends and family to rescue. There is some logic to this beyond cruelty, the US government is cruel to be sure but this is not just for extra cruelty. The extra cruelty is a bonus!

    So just to frame this, if you commit a crime and are wanted by the police. They hunt you down and arrest you. Do you get to bring your stuff? No. Do you lose it? Also no. …Unless you don’t have a home in which case it’s considered litter and removed, throwing all the blankets, tent, and any knick knacks you might have acquired into the landfill. There’s a story about this happening to the ashes of a man who’s widow had become homeless. Just heartbreaking stuff and it feels like the point is to break people down… But that’s editorializing.

    We are supposed to have a cool thing called Due Process in this country. That is the process of law, searching for facts and going through a fair and unbiased review from someone taught to be good at reviewing things, a judge if you will. And you should because that job is titled judge.

    Anyway, that judge overseas a process in which you are told what you are accused of and given the space and time to defend yourself. People aren’t guilty, they are found guilty by systematically laying out all the evidence and facts. This process usually takes a fair amount of time and many people are allowed to return home during this time. Usually on Bail. We can argue the merits of bail but basically you pay a decent chunk of money and you get to go home with a promise to show up for your court date.

    Now while doing court stuff you also have to find time to plan for your stuff or money for fines or whatever comes next.

    Anyway, all this stuff doesn’t matter because ICE, DHS, the Trump admin. they don’t work like that. They are supposed to. The law says they must do it that way. They are not. If you get abducted (detained is the word they will use but without due process your not being detained.) by federal agents right now I would expect to lose everything, maybe not right away but quickly enough unless you can get friends and family to help.

    This is because of government has revoked three right of due process for people it deems “illegal.” This is crazy because how do you prove whether you are legally allowed to be somewhere if there is no process for showing your documents? Like I could show you my driver’s license, my passport, but if no one verifies them, and there is no process to make sure I get released once they are verified…you can see the problem right?

    Anyway, once you’re in their custody they want to deport you, period. Wife at home? Kids to feed? Pets that rely on you? Work and friends wondering where you went? Doesn’t matter to these people. They just want you give and will try to do it asap. You can try to fight it but there few stories of it being successful. Those that are successful take months and months of work and money. Most people however just can’t do that. You file a petition or two and get the boot anyway.

    So much like the Japanese Internment during WWII much of the stuff not saved by friends and relatives will be repossessed, stolen, and eventually thrown away. Cars and homes will be sold and if these people ever get to return to their families everything in their lives will be different and they and their families will be much poorer for it.

    In my opinion, it’s kind of like we all have paid taxes so the government can take the dreams of hopeful immigrants looking for a better future for themselves and their families and smash it on the ground before grinding it to dust beneath jack booted heels. But maybe someone else has a different take.











  • I heard about Notebook LM recently. I couldn’t tell you what it’s trained on but I’m order to use the LLM you need to provide it source material.

    So say you’re writing something for school. You can gather 50+ papers on the subject you’re trying to write about, upload them, then ask the LLM about what you uploaded. Sounds like turning research from a search for info to an interview with an “expert.”

    Again I can’t speak to how it was trained in the background but this seems genuinely useful.


  • I’d like to wait and see what happens at the trial before declaring him innocent or guilty. Just like any conspiracy theory in the past there are plenty of reasons to believe he is innocent. It does seem that he is probably the person but what I’ve seen and read hasn’t convinced me beyond a shadow.

    The liars in charge of our government keep saying this is the guy, and we should kill him. I find that super suss.

    It’s not weird that I’m waiting for more info before forming an opinion.

    It is much more weird that you’re taking the word of police at face value. If you want to kill him so badly, prove it.