It’s even worse than that – there hasn’t been a genuinely open Democratic Primary since 2008.

• 2012: Obama is a popular incumbent, that’s the only one they get a pass for
• 2016: The obvious plan was for Hillary to be coronated, the only serious challenger wasn’t even from the Democratic Party, there was the ratfucking with the superdelegates, Dems argued in court that they had no obligation to run a fair primary, etc.
• 2020: Ratfuck Pt. II with the coordinated dropout/endorsement of Biden
• 2024: No one challenges an obviously senile and unpopular president, then the party forces him out and subs in someone who didn’t even get any primary votes in 2020

Except there is no AI teacher here, because AI doesn’t exist yet. These kids are basically doing homework with a chatbot.

The second step was the law the country passed at the beginning of May—the one that The Publica makes sound like a horrifying, dystopian mess. In fact, the measure had the support of the Belgian sex workers union…

But the law also explicitly protects the right to refuse specific customers, sex acts, etc.

It stipulates that “every sex worker has the right to refuse a client,” that “every sex worker has the right to refuse a sexual act,” and that “every sex worker has the right to interrupt a sexual act at any time.” It also says that “any sex worker has the right to perform a sexual act in the manner they wish” and that “if there are dangers to the sex worker’s safety, the sex worker may refuse to sit behind a window or advertise.”…

“If a sex worker exercises the right to refuse more than ten times in a six-month period, the sex worker or the employer may seek the intervention of a governmental mediation service,” according to UTSOPI. “That service will assess if there is anything wrong with the working conditions, if there is a problem in the employer-employee relationship. The service can also offer professional reorientation possibilities.”

I don’t trust Reason’s reporting on this very much, and the article is full of libertarian junk. I’m curious as to why the sex workers’ union supported this, though. Maybe they think the protections it includes are sufficient. Like 100 other things, it’ll come down to how it’s enforced.

The classic “bad artist to fascist” pipeline

Nah, tons of leftists right here on this site used to be libs. In the U.S. at least, I’d say most leftists went through a lib phase at some point.

I don’t think calling libs fascists-in-waiting, moderate fascists, etc. moves many people in the right direction. People match spite with spite. It should be reserved for those we have no hope of bringing around, not us 10 years ago.

Just go through and count the usage of kkkanadians.

The horror!

“I’ll believe it when I see it” is a better response than assuming he won’t actually do this, or patting him on the back before he does.

What is it you think vapes emit?

Reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography now. He’s in prison in apartheid SA in the 60s, in horrible conditions, enduring forced labor, with one prison guard who has a swastika tattooed on his wrist. And he’s talking about how the ANC prisoners would treat individual guards differently based on how they treated the prisoners. He mentions a series of conversations with one guard where the guy asks what the ANC is about and is surprised to learn it’s not a bunch of terrorists who want to kill all white people.

The contrast between that and the modern online sentiment of “everyone remotely associated with the crimes of capitalism deserves to die” is stark. Not everyone will come around, but a lot can. And even if you don’t bring then all the way to good positions, there’s a difference between an opponent who genuinely hates you and would die for their cause and an opponent who merely dislikes you, and who would choose to go home and grumble rather than fight to the death.

Mediocore

In 1947, Naujocks was extradited to Denmark to stand trial. There, he was found guilty of his role in the murders of Danish resistance fighters and sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, in 1950, Naujocks’s sentence was reduced to 4 years, resulting in his immediate release.

Following the trials, Naujocks worked as a businessman in Hamburg, where he eventually sold his story to the media as The Man who Started the War. He was alleged to have been involved in running ODESSA, together with Otto Skorzeny, who handled contracts with the Spanish government, supplying passports and arranging for funds. Naujocks and his associates handled former Nazi war criminals going to Latin America, being responsible for their reception and protection there.

Retvrn to when starting wars had real consequences

Don’t even have the excuse here of offering leaders favorable terms to stop the bloodshed earlier. Why prolong the fighting with a demand of unconditional surrender if you’re going to give even the middle managers a slap on the wrist?

Non-paywalled link: https://archive.is/G584y

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine

It really is something how almost all English-langage media uses the phrase “full-scale invasion” in lockstep.

From a strictly military perspective, restrictions never help.

“From a strictly military perspective” is a nonsense framing, especially in a relatively limited war like this. Militaries are for (1) resolving political questions when peaceful attempts at resolution break down, and (2) deterring other countries from walking away from serious attempts at peaceful resolution. There is no world where you set aside the ultimate political goals; that’s the whole point!

The modest seizure of Russian territory may strengthen Ukraine’s bargaining position in negotiations, ease Russian pressure on Ukrainian defenses in the Donbas, or weaken Russian President Vladimir Putin politically, but it is unlikely to change the military picture in a significant way.

Should have dispensed with the saber-rattling and started here. This isn’t going to change the overall direction of the war; at most it will prolong the inevitable.

These are the last days of WWI, where people keep dying despite everyone knowing that the war’s end is imminent.

And Iowa, and Pennsylvania, etc.

What’s good isn’t new, and what’s new isn’t good. Sticking to that can be a helpful way to criticize the bad stuff without getting bogged down in “well no shit cleaning your room occasionally is nice.”

There’s a whole school of legal theory to the effect of “a sufficiently talented legal mind can pick whatever outcome they wish and then find a way to justify it.”

The fact that ukrainians are still fighting to this day shows they want to be independent.

This is a post about conscription, where people who do not want to fight are forced to

It doesn’t matter who did what before

this didn’t start on February 22, 2022, but in 2014

History starts and stops exactly when it best suits my argument

“All my takes are so perfect no one but a troll could disagree with me”

Go “do your own research” then lmao

You reject the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is caused by humans, then you want to pull debatelord shit about the history of climate science forecasts. Fuck off.