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professorgerm

clutching my imitation pearls

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joined 2022 September 12 12:41:49 UTC 

				
User ID: 1157


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
professorgerm


								
								
									
								
								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
clutching my imitation pearls

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 12 12:41:49 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 1157


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not really, and IMO the old-guard movement is a shell of itself. I certainly wouldn't count any of Scott's other commentariat-zones as 'rationalist,' either.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


stated reason is that the state failed to prove that defendant actually drove the vehicle.




It's kind of amazing police don't go postal on judges more often.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I was able to get at the judge’s order by following these instructions.




Irritating. When they said the attorney reviewed it for them I assumed it wasn't a (complicated but possible to obtain) public document.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Except a 55 page order that outlines the facts of the case in excruciating detail, accompanied by the relevant analysis.




Local news sites tend to be better about actually linking useful stuff but it's such a pain in the bahonkus to get to the actual case, maybe that's why they chose laziness instead.




The brother was managing the business and hired a consultant who produced documents that were submitted to Medicaid showing inflated hours for legitimate clients as well as hours billed to fictitious clients.




Having a sibling or two is a great way to avoid court, if you're a little bit clever.


I'm familiar with a case of identical triplets that, when one was called to court, a different one would go, be all "no that was my brother you've got the wrong guy," then the case would be dismissed/delayed/etc. IIRC they got to the point of doing fingerprint verifications as they entered the court to ensure they actually had the correct brother.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Yes, his texts would have gotten him banned on the Motte.




I should probably be glad we have higher standards than the Virginia electorate, but mostly it makes me disappointed in humanity.




Well, you can say you hate him




A nice consolation prize.




no, you can't openly wish death on him




Cheering after the fact should tragedy occur to such an innocent and praiseworthy individual, a la Kirk and approximately every internet forum to the left of The Motte?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
On the "judges get to do what they want, actual justice gets to suck it" front and related to the thread you dislike below, a Hennepin County judge overturned a jury's verdict in one of the Somali fraud cases. The judge doesn't seem to have released any information beyond the overturn and acquittal, here's news agency commentary:




Defense attorney Joe Tamburino, who is not affiliated with the case, reviewed the decision and analyzed it for KARE 11 News. He says Judge West ruled that the state's case "relied heavily on circumstantial evidence," and that she believed the state didn't rule out other "reasonable inferences."




To my non-lawyery ear this sounds a lot like "vibes" and the jury should've known better nudge nudge wink wink.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


crocodile tears




I was aware this term existed but I've seen it several times the last couple days. Frequency illusion or did a software update go out about how to discuss these things?




at least unless you're willing to have an equal amount of concern when rich white people do it.




Okay, I'll bite that bullet and say all fraud is bad, and everyone involved should have the book thrown at them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


deal with this flavor of criticism




Would that flavor be "doesn't trust the NY Post" (fair, ish) or "thinks all immigrants are fully above reproach" (the Tim Walz special)?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The surprising thing, looking into it, is that this seems to have been a bit of an open secret?




This article doesn't bring it up specifically, but it's been speculated the incredible increase in autism centers, and support costs is also related to Somali-organized fraud.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 17, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Isn't the point of disparate impact that it's an end-run around needing evidence of explicit discrimination?


"we'll charge him more because he's white" is explicit discrimination.


"We'll charge him more because he has good insurance, which is statistically correlated with whiteness" is disparate impact.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Everyone here (minus the lizardman constant) thinks vaccines work.




I find OP somewhat frustrating for those motte/bailey/tea leaf reasons, but the CDC had to change their definition of vaccine because the COVID vaccine turned out so mediocre.


I think this was more due to the arrogance of the average public health agent combined with a heaping serving of sunk cost fallacy than some planned maliciousness, but it wasn't exactly encouraging as a development.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 10, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


In the real world, the mental health services do not work like that




Trans issues are a strange exception to all sorts of the usual bureaucracy/hangups/etc. One visit, 45 minutes-hour max, possibly even a virtual consult to get HRT through planned parenthood. Then there's the whole sports debacle, bathrooms, pronouns have kind of faded but they were fireable offense for many years, 'cotton ceiling' discourse... et cetera.


Most mental health services do not work like that. Western societies made an exception for one subset and nobody seems to know why.


edit




redhead




good taste


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 27, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Mostly leaving aside the race factor, two possibilities:


A) she has high chipmunky cheeks, and I suspect that's an unfortunately polarizing feature that she can't do much about. Some people find it cute, some find it off-putting, maybe fewer opinions in the middle.


B) she seems to have decided against adapting her makeup to the podium lighting, and it gives her an almost plastic look.  Every picture on Google Photos she's just so shiny. I wouldn't say hideous but a somewhat 'uncanny' feeling.


I agree her smile does her many favors, and in the photos where she doesn't have that shiny-plastic look, yeah, above the political average and the prettiest of the last several press secretaries. Surprises me a bit to skip over the redhead.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 27, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I may be a little overly defensive of that quiet little place, but I hardly associate it with Trace even if he started it. He and his cofounder more or less abandoned The Schism for an extended period after the launch, so I wouldn't necessarily call it one of his hangouts even though he did recruit occasionally. He spent much more time on Twitter and Substack, though now he's put both on hiatus.


He did get quite embittered about this place, and those exchanges were... disappointing.


So it goes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 27, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


starting an anti-motte subreddit back before this forum self exiled fully




He got mad about certain rude and catastrophic language being used and not pushed back against enough, particularly during/around the Kenosha self-defense event as the breaking point IIRC. It wasn't exactly anti-Motte as it was... more pointedly opinionated than the Motte, but early on it did attract people wanting to complain about the Motte, for a little while.




that subreddit had really some great posts interspersed with really intense egotripping personal drama that sometimes bled out to this refuge here




TheSchism still exists! Sort of. Quietly. And it was composed mostly of (ex-?) Mottezans so yes it did bleed back over on occassion.




I mentally flag rationalwiki drama as adjacent




Our dear T-dubs wrote a long piece about David Gerard, who was a prominent editor of regular Wikipedia and sysadmin of Rationalwiki.


Possibly some other rationalwiki and drama connections along the way?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 27, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


for.... most things that aren't heavily politicized




Or not in English which may have a much higher rate of outright encyclopedia-formatted fiction.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Gotcha. Figured they wouldn't see my responses but didn't want to test in case it was broken. Thanks!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The description on the Blocked User page of the profile says "They cannot notify you or send you messages and their comments are hidden."


I noticed earlier a comment with a little red pawn next to it, and the hover text said "This user is blocking you." I could see the comment, it wasn't hidden, and I didn't do anything to uncollapse it or what have you. I can view the user's profile and indeed I've upvoted several of their comments, but I don't recall having other interactions.


So... Does blocking actually do anything here?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner




One of my favorite things about Trump is his ongoing refusal to go to the dinner. It's delightfully petty, but I also think it's good policy, that being so buddy-buddy with the press (like Obama was) actually is a bad thing for the office.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


And French never even justifies his theory that the justice system we have today is peak justice




Like many people, French is stuck in the perception of his childhood and still runs high on the liberal's nostalgia for the Civil Rights movement. One could say he groans for a nation that never existed.


And, in a very human error, he overindexes on his personal experience of being insulted for adopting an African kid and ignores the broader context of crime disparities.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


French makes Ahmari look like an absolute clown.




French is a good debater that despises conservatives that disagree with him and the South, and has absolutely no vision of how to deal with opposing ideologies that don't support viewpoint-neutrality.




I don't think the French strategy can lead to an overall 'victory'




The French strategy is at best a slow defeat but without even Tolkien's literary merit, which is why the post-Christian right hates him so much. It doesn't just not lead to an overall victory, the French strategy spends a decade in court just for Roberts to write into an opinion how Harvard can keep doing racial discrimination the 'right' way.


On balance, I like that David is principled. Given the choice of a dinner party guest, I'd choose him over much of the "dissident right," though to be fair I'd rather dine with a rabid badger than someone like Hanania. But I also think French is a much bigger asshole than most of his fans are willing to admit.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 13, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Then how should I respond to the accusation that liberals are to blame for right wing skinheads?




Question underdefined. I met an actual, I think reforming, skinhead once. Small rural town, worked at the barbershop there. Still had the shaved head and camo cargo pants, and a tattoo on his arm looked like a coverup- I didn't ask of what. Nice enough, to me anyways; if he wasn't fully reformed at least he had no issue with Amerimutt micks. I don't blame liberals for that kind of guy, and your response to the suggestion liberals are to blame for him and his (former?) compatriots should be a scoff.


But I don't think that's the kind of guy you mean, that Mottezans want to blame liberals for.




Is '"Liberals are the only people with agency" theory undefeated' the professorgerm approved line?




Good to know I have a fan! With attribution, I'll accept your usage. And to some degree, yes; I think liberals (writ broadly) like to ignore how much agency they've been able to exert and prefer to avoid the consequences of their influence. This is probably true across the board, though, and less a liberal issue so much as a human one.




Who cares?




So it goes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
On one hand, the Trumpian open vulgarity and corruption is easier to discover and critique. On the other, there's the argument that the fig leaf- jawboning, sue and settle, saving your stupid jokes for the Correspondent's Dinner- is important.


The Age of the Fig Leaf is over.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Trump revels in deliberately antagonizing liberals. This is bad. This erodes norms which leads to things like Reddit openly celebrating murder.




"Trump is the only person with agency" theory undefeated.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It makes zero strategic sense from my perspective, all it does is fan the flames. I suppose if he wants to fan the flames of the culture war, fine, but that's also not something I'm behind.




Your first sentence assumes strategy, which is the mistake. Trump "weaves" and, I think, is just having fun. Crass fun, but nothing strategic.


Then again, The Mule is a special case and I'm not a predictor.




I simply find his aesthetics to be revolting.




Do you see any functional alternatives? I too find the aesthetic revolting, and yet- no one else is picking up the crown from the gutter. The alternatives are no less revolting. The tolerable alternative is, seemingly, retreat and quietude.


The left offers no superior aesthetics, and I'll take the shit plane over 'whiteness is a contract with the devil.' David Frenchism is about losing correctly. I'll also take the shit plane over EHC-posting; even toilet humor is better than that.