Grant_us_eyes
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User ID: 1156
Grant_us_eyes
11mo ago
These quotes were supposedly attributed asides to no-name ambassadors outside of the great powers of the time.
If he was trying to intimidate people, he picked the wrong targets to do so.
Mao saw combat during WW2 in China. I imagine he had a very different view of death and permissive causalities. While per capita China's deaths were not the worst, they were certainly up there. I don't think it's wise to underestimate just how this shaped his outlook.
Grant_us_eyes
11mo ago
No possible war between the US and China could ever be beneficial for either country.
"The Chinese people are not to be cowed by U.S. atomic blackmail. Our country has a population of 600 million and an area of 9,600,000 square kilometers. The United States cannot annihilate the Chinese nation with its small stack of atom bombs. Even if the U.S. atom bombs were so powerful that, when dropped on China, they would make a hole right through the earth, or even blow it up, that would hardly mean anything to the universe as a whole, though it might be a major event for the solar system."
"If the worst came to the worst and half of mankind died, the other half would remain while imperialism would be razed to the ground and the whole world would become socialist; in a number of years there would be 2,700 million people again and definitely more."
Both of those quotes are attributed to Mao Zedong. Yes, I firmly believe nuclear war was a tactic Mao would have implemented; this was a man whom had experienced WW2 through China's eyes, with all it's horrific casualties on the Chinese people.
There's a reason Nixon and Mao coming together to hash stuff out face to face was a huge deal. Don't fall into the historian trap of thinking that 'Great Men of History don't matter, greater factors come into play that determine how history plays out.'
Grant_us_eyes
11mo ago
My experience with the DKE can basically be translated as 'I am knowledgeable and skilled at one thing, therefor, I am knowledgeable and skilled at everything.'
Often with lawyers.
Grant_us_eyes
11mo ago
The two crucified next to Jesus were thieves according to the Bible; do you have some other source of information on that?
Metatron did a video about the arrest of Christ, looking at the 'original' Greek text of the bible. Very interesting look on the matter, and going by the various gospels, it's heavily implied if not out-right stated that Jesus was crucified as an insurrectionist/rebel, alongside the other two.
The Romans can obviously want him dead for many reasons, one of which being that their handpicked puppets were whining about him.
This I would disagree on. My interpretation of the trial of Jesus by Pontius Pilate is very much a case where Pilate is having to deal with politically charged Pharisees hell-bent on seeing Jesus killed due to his teachings. Going by the Gospel, Jesus literally argued his case with Pilate so well that Pilate was begging the Pharisees to allow Pilate to declare Jesus guilty, so much so that he offered them up the choice between Jesus and a man accused of murder.
And we know who they picked.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Huh.
Given the men to women ratio in Alaska, that wouldn't have been my first choice. A better option would probably be the Pacific Trail, but what do I know.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
My search and reference skills are clearly lacking at the moment, so I have to be the one to ask; 'The Hock'?
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Given the examples you provided - presumably, these were supposed to be clear-cut demonstrations thereof - you'll excuse me if I'm a little skeptical.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
I forgot the statistics precisely, but in generally any country you go you're likely to see far more volunteers from people with parents/grandparents who were in the military than a random first-generation enlistment.
Seventy percent of military recruits have a family member in the United States armed forces.
Seventy fucking percent. I admittedly wasn't expecting that high a number. I still marvel at it, at times.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
What confuses me though is his unashamed hamas-freedom fighter sentiment and Jews-are-the-villains narrative
I don't see any of that. I see satire pointing out how America has a tendency to fall all over itself in supporting Israel without question, and that some people are just a little bit tired of that.
Your take on the matter kind of proves his point; Israel seems above criticism, and any negative word in their direction is taken as support for their enemies.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
IVF
One element I feel gets ignored and/or glossed over is the cost. IVF procedures in America cost anywhere from 10k to 30k - there seems to be a wide gap involved, and IIRC, the cost a friend of mine paid was much, much more.
There's also no guarantee the procedure will take, and the longer a woman puts it off, the longer possible existing complications can remain undiscovered(again, this is what happened to the same friend.)
Thankfully, they were able to go oversees to have the procedure done again, but staying a month in Turkey is abit beyond the means of most people.
I wish people were taught better about this, but I worry we've moved to the point where the majority just assumes medical science is basically a magic wand that automatically fixes everything.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
The easiest way I've found to loose faith in the justice system is by talking with your so-called 'experts'(Lawyers, Law Enforcement) in their actual field experience.
I imagine it's similar in other fields, as well.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Characters like Miles Morales generally have pretty high approval ratings because he is an interesting character in his own right and they didn't just make Peter Parker black.
People can repeat this as many times as they like, but I refuse to believe it. At best, it just feels like historical revisionism.
Miles was very much made as a black Spiderman, and only worked when they actually, y'know, killed Peter off. It's telling that the only way they made Miles work as a character when matching him up with the original was by changing the original completely - making him older, wiser, and a little more cynical.
No, Miles is just a bad collection of racial tropes pasted onto the original, and very much a racial takeover of the worst type - oh, and he has a hot blonde girlfriend, because that's what always happens with black characters in American comics, for some reason.
'Comic book popularity' is a worthless measure when the entirety of comic book sales in America are outshone by a single manga series. 'But the movies' are a worthless measure given all the sheer effort they had to do to make it work, and when people talk about 'Into the Spider-verse', all I hear is stuff about Miguel O'Hara.
So, no, I disagree. I place Miles alongside all the other race-swaps - worse, because people keep trotting him out as 'one of the good ones', when he really, really isn't.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Good god, it's been a while since I've cracked open my econ degree.
TLDR, M1 and M2 are basically how much free-flow, readily available cash is in the hands of the public(as opposed to Banks, the federal deposit, and other entities.)
Or, put another way, how much money do civilians and John Q Public have available at quick notice.
If it's been falling, well... that means they have less cash on-hand. Why that is could be due to... well, a long list of reasons.
Also, that redefinition of m1 annoys me to a horrendous degree for some odd reason.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
You're underestimating the national divide that existed post-Civil War.
Up until World War 1, there was an honest question among those that considered such on wether or not any of the Southern states would actually fight for America, period. (Instead, they turned out in droves that carried a consistent trend... up until very recently. Funny, that.) Most statues were put up as a meager act of concession, allowing pride to a defeated foe who nevertheless gave a good fight.
It's not as if the South had anything else in the aftermath.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
I would suggest 2016 was less the cause and more the 'masks off' moment.
Hanging around various fan forums in the early 2000s, one common thread I saw pop up time and time again was the typical 'Whatif' of 'What would you have done differently in the treatment of the South post civil-war' and the thread wouldn't even get past the first page before the notion of 'Kill them all' would get thrown out.
Ground-level liberal/progressives have had a common genocidal fantasy toward Southerners for a very long time, with very little if no pushback against it.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
And part of it is just that Southern primary education more or less lies to its own people about this part of history.
Ah, yes. This old canard.
Sorry, but I had to take 400-level history courses on Southern history before the notion that 'Well, the Civil War may have had other factors beyond slavery that caused it' even got brought up.
I'll believe my own eyes and experience, thanks.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
It makes perfect sense. I'm already paying thousands for said car - why does it not include the necessary software already?
new car
If I wanted to get a new car to replace the one I have(I don't), I couldn't even go with the latest make and model as they literally don't release them in America any more.
Nor am I skeptical that I could purchase one with similar performance and at a similar price. The MRSP for the model I own has gone up, not down. That's not normal.
Hopefully I won't have to find out any time soon.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Which is a third-party prosumer item that not everyone has.
That's the point. You shouldn't need a third-party item to understand where the fuck-up is. Even if it's a hidden option in the background, cars come natively with enough computers that you should be able to pull up an error-code read-out without spending additional money.
Instead, we get new cars and trucks with 18 different cameras built in so the software can construct a to-down view when backing up and then wonder why everything is so expensive nowadays.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Ah, I see you do not live in a location that has a Wendy's fast food restraunt.
It's probably for the best. Better to suffer in ignorance and not know the glories you have deprived yourself of.
But, yes. Back when I was exhaustively cataloguing my weight loss on a week by week basis, eating bread at a holiday meal would mean the difference between not gaining any weight if I didn't, and gaining several pounds if I did.
Which is an absolute shame, given all the recipes I have for various types of bread. So it goes.
never to become fat in the first place.
In a perfect world, yes. Ah, if I only knew growing up what I know now.
Can't say I ever hit the lethargy you're describing when I lost weight, however. Not sure if it was my overall slow path toward weightloss or not. If anything, I ended up with more energy, not less.
As for the hunger, eh. I just sucked up and dealt with it. I doubt that's good advice for other people, though.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
and it will revert as soon as the person goes back to eating naturally.
Amazing. If you go back to the diet that was making you fat, you will get fat again. Will wonders never cease.
Sorry. I should probably hold back on the sarcasm, given that this is the motte, but this is the one 'secret' about dieting that I rarely see people point out - you can't stop.
Dieting isn't an on-off switch - it needs to be a conscious decision to moderate your diet aimed at long-term goals and body improvement. Once you reach a certain age, you can't just shovel crap into your face and expect to walk it off.
Dieting is a permanent change to your life, and the sooner people acknowledge that, the better.
Conversely, if someone wants to enjoy themselves sucking down baconators and Dr Pepper by the bucket, well, I can't stop them. Maybe they'll get more enjoyment out of life doing that then I will, I dunno.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
storming the capitol building
Why should storming the capital building be any different than when rioters stormed the White House?
People constantly try to paint the Jan 6 protest as something extraordinary, when it was just the right wing seeing what the left had been doing for the past four years and deciding to use a tool that apparently works.
Don't blame the protestors for assuming good faith and not realizing that left-wing protests were being sponsored and applauded by the various institutions kicking around.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Well, it was less 'settling' and more 'being forced to move there due to the British crown of the time trying to get rid of two problems at once'. The history of the Scots-Irish is certainly... colorful.
Grant_us_eyes
1yr ago
Diverse but isolated.
People try to claim America as a melting pot without looking at the mechanics(Nevermind that the phrase itself referred to New York City). That's the part that always sticks at me when I look at my very local history and see the various ethnic settlements that developed.
Certainly, you have diverse ethnic settlements that look from a modern standpoint to be very close to one another... but when you stop and take a step back, consider the time period they developed and the lack of coherent infrastructure, and you realize that these self-same settlements were in the middle of fucking nowhere and would take a good number of days to reach the nearest town or transportation hub, nevermind the nearest city.
Diverse, but isolated. Now, there is no isolation; we are all in the pot together, and it's slowly starting to boil.
Ah. Good to know. Thank you for this.
It explains a lot, really.
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