domain:arjunpanickssery.substack.com
netstack
Texas is freedom land
42m ago
Nothing.
He’s known he wouldn’t be president again since August. If he had an uncontroversial, good-vibes project in mind, why not start it earlier?
For 1, he’s not going to get anything resembling a compromise. Not without something bringing Putin to the table.
Trump has already tarred 3 for Democrats.
I guess digging up another park would be a decent option. It doesn’t involve him giving MAGA exactly what they want, though, so I assume it’s dead on arrival. Maybe that’s too pessimistic.
FlyingLionWithABook
Has a C. S. Lewis quote for that.
46m ago
It would be great if it were true, but I think the end result of any peace talks would be Trump coming home in disgust and urging congress to send more military aid to Ukraine, possible including the kind of offensive weapons that Biden has been reluctant to give.
If you want peace, that would be a good result! I've never understood our constant policy of half-measures. If we're going to back Ukraine against Russia by providing weapons then we should be providing the best weapons and in quantity. Limiting our support just keeps the war going as long as possible. Do we want Ukraine to have a strong position or not? If not, then why supply weapons at all?
roystgnr
48m ago
Nah; the popular vote is a relative rating rather than absolute. E.g. if I'd been in a swing state I'd have voted for Harris, not because she is a non-awful candidate I approved of, but because she seemed like the less awful of the two. I suspect a lot of Trump voters feel the same way in reverse.
On the other hand, one reason for disapproving of a candidate you'd vote for is that you think their weaknesses will cost your team an election, and if that's the case it's possible that Trump's approval rating is shooting up right now as his more pessimistic voters realize he wasn't too much of a liability this time after all. I'm only seeing one poll post-election so far, and it's still got him at Unfavorable +1 among registered voters, but that's within the margin of error of 0 and it's a big jump from the same pollster's Unfavorable +8 a week or so earlier, so maybe he's actually up in the positive numbers now.
TitaniumButterfly
50m ago
Well if there's any point in putting it in toothpaste, it must be to increase the concentration way above that which is naturally-occuring. So I repeat the question.
SophisticatedHillbilly
51m ago
We could have chosen differently
And in fact, some countries, or even states, did. I feel like this conflation of COVID with COVID-response is a huge issue.
ABigGuy4U
52m ago
Increasingly it seems like recommending any kind of media to anyone is a fools errand. People just have very little tolerance to anything outside of their media comfort zone. Even short YouTube videos are usually a dud.
Ditripar
59m ago
I just don't think that these sit-down interviews are that important when it comes to a presidential general election campaign.
I would say interviews are like debates: Normally they don't really matter. But if one candidate appears to be unable to handle interviews (not even good interviews, just unable/unwilling to do them) or unable to handle a debate (winning is nice but not necessary, just participating) then that raises massive red flags.
It seems like a basic duty of the job. An applicant for a job who can send and receive emails isn't noteworthy. An applicant who can't though, isn't likely to be hired.
Rosencrantz2
1hr ago
Depends if it's a situation as unfamiliar as the first one, where medical establishments and governments were truly panicking. That fear is transmissible and I don't think there'd be that much resistance. If it's what looks like a repeat of Covid though, and there is less of a sense of the unknown, I do think people would likely resist.
ToaKraka
Dislikes you
1hr ago
I was imagining a CK2-ish game extending from the CK2 time period all the way through the V3 time period—like [insert one of the vaporware yet-to-be-released Paradox competitor games].
TheFooder
1hr ago
Is this CNN's opening move in a "relentlessly show how Trump's America is a cesspit of bigotry and violence" campaign?
Heaven forfend that Trump's America not give CNN the ammunition they need to make this argument. This seems like an actual news story so it's fair game.
Amadan
I will be here longer than you
1hr ago
I wonder if their genius idea was to stage a "predator catch," but they went full vigilante with it (because young dumb males).
If you're not aware, there are a ton of "pred-catcher" YouTube and Rumble channels. Basically doing the Chris Hansen thing (who has his own channel now as well): a decoy pretending to be a minor will hang out on dating apps or social media sites until some guy (a guy 99.9% of the time) takes the bait, and then they set him up to come meet the minor. They confront him, try to get him to confess, and then call the police - filming the entire thing.
The YouTubers, however, are familiar with the law and are generally very careful not to do anything that could get them arrested (especially not putting hands on the pred). They also make very sure their targets have thoroughly and unambiguously incriminated themselves. Their decoys usually pretend to be 12 or 13 - well below any possible age of consent - and they wait until they have hours and hours of sexually explicit messages, with the perp clearly stating he's aware of the decoy's (supposed) age.
Usually these are straight men going after young girls, but sometimes they get a gay guy trying to hook up with a boy.
Anyway, that's what this looks like to me: they got the idea from watching a pred-catcher video, but decided to beat the shit out of the perp instead. Very stupid, but probably not a hate crime, although since they found the perp on Grindr, I can imagine a DA who wants to make it a hate crime arguing that they were specifically targeting gay men.
Recursive_Enlightenment
1hr ago
Trump would likely respond to this with a call the end the Senate filibuster.
yofuckreddit
1hr ago
I liked Rodrigo's latest album actually. Almost like... rock? Sabrina's "Taste" is a fantastic cuckquean anthem, but the rest of her stuff is only OK, but she's nice to look at when building a youtube playlist so it's fine.
I don't get Chappell Roan at all.
It is funny that these women essentially have to pay homage to Taylor Swift though.
Folamh3
1hr ago
I liked "Hot to Go". It inspired a similar reaction as when I heard "Gimme Chocolate" by Babymetal: you can't help but smile at the sheer audacious silliness of the thing.
yofuckreddit
1hr ago
Might be critical for late game, who knows.
I only read the developer diaries. I can't play the game, because I have a family and a career that would be destroyed by it. But I've heard this is the case.
The only downside is, it's not 3d. Why, I can't tell you
There are a ton of 3D imitators in the genre, so it's 100% possible, and I know a couple people who can't play Factorio because of it. I think the devs are obsessed with the quality of the code and design in the game to such a degree that they believe 3D will never allow such precision and control of the player's viewpoint. I think they're right.
ABigGuy4U
1hr ago
If they do try to dismiss it, I think they will go with the “this is just standard football hooliganism, which often has an ethnic tinge and involves physical assaults and rioting” excuse.
yofuckreddit
1hr ago
I'll echo that the creation of covers still goes on, and I think people still do really well. In fact, I maintain a playlist of great covers that continually expands. Some suggestions from the past few years (I'd do the whole playlist, but I'd be dipping into early 00s covers etc.):
cjet79
1hr ago
This is the full interview: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ry1IjOft95c
What was great about it is that Trump is a New Yorker, and this is a podcast of New Yorkers. I of course knew intellectually that Trump was from New York. But it didn't sink in.
New Yorkers have an aggressive and bombastic style of talking and interacting that often involves lots of interruptions and talking over one another, active ribbing each other, and grandiose exaggerations (that everyone in the conversation knows are exaggerations). Trump is often given too much of a chance to talk. It leads to him ranting and going on weird tangents. This happened quite a bit early on in the Joe Rogan interview he did, and I could not watch more than ten minutes of it. Trump gets accused of being a bully for the ribbing he constantly does. And finally Trump is known as a liar for his constant grandiose claims.
In the flagrant interview Trump is interrupted, he is talked over, and there is ribbing going on constantly, and Trump loves it and thrives in it. Because he is a New Yorker and that is how they talk and interact. He even extends the interview for an extra 30 minutes or so. His ranting is far lessened. His weird tangents are there, but don't dominate the conversation. He is quick on his feet with jokes. There are very few awkward moments.
To be clear, I am not a New Yorker. And their style of interaction can grate on me. I can take it in small drunk doses in person, and can barely stand it at all when sober. For podcast listening it can be real fun, but is often a bit overwhelming. I don't regularly listen to flagrant, but they can have some absolutely laugh out loud banger episodes when I'm in the mood for it.
I just finally feel like I understand Trump, and that is a huge relief. I don't feel like I've ever really understood him in the past, and I don't feel like I've ever understood any other president or presidential candidate in my lifetime (except for Ron Paul).
yofuckreddit
1hr ago
I'm powering through a book reccomendation from an ex, and it's reminding me of how much I've recently thought about how much - or if at all - people send messages through art.
I miss mixtapes, dearly. I still have a few scrawled CDs in sleeves that never get played, most of which I did make myself. It's a bit arrogant to say, but I have historically gotten positive feedback from those I distributed to others. Truthfully, I'd put some effort in - parsing through a wide collection to find things I truly believed the other person would like. And yes, sometimes, sending a message. I suspect that thrashing genres thew some people off occasionally, but I think it was worth it to get them hooked on something new.
As time has gone on I've found that people's recommendations of books and music haven't hit the spot as much as they once did. We've spoken endlessly about the degradation in quality of art on this forum, and yeah that's part of it, but I also see it as a consequence of the distance we keep from each other as we become adults.
Books are particularly challenging. I think sharing a great novel with someone has a sort of intimacy that is matched by very few things, perhaps as a result of how long of an investment it requires. But I also think the medium just has more emotional potential than movies/TV (definitely) or music (probably).
I love fiction and tend to stay in the realm of fiction focused on anything other than people, but I do occasionally treat myself to more "realistic" interpersonal fiction. I still think "This is Where I Leave You" was one of the best books I've ever read. It either helped process some trauma or inflamed it, not sure, but the recommendation that set me off on this rant is of the genre. It's kind of nice to be back after what's probably been a 4 year hiatus from it.
In any case I'm not sure how common talking to each other indirectly through this stuff is. It feels like most people view the exchange of entertainment recommendations as somehow related to status - like they're just pushing something to you to get the endorphin hit from you saying you liked it. Given how much content is available, how freely it flows, that's all anyone has time for. But it seems like a waste of time, even if "sending messages through art" is presumptuous or paranoid.
JarJarJedi
1hr ago
She was likeable, i.e. she didn't have the Hilary Clinton problem of coming off as a bitch. She didn't have any major skeletons in her closet. She had a good resume.
Wow do we watch two different movies. This is a woman who literally started her career through bedding a prominent powerful politician, and performed horribly - by the standards of her own party, which thoroughly criticized her for it when it were still allowed - once she was gifted a position. Who famously jailed parent of sick kids and proudly bragged about it. Who was explicitly and knowingly hired for her demographics and confirmed her ineptness by being unable to achieve literally anything for 4 years. Seriously, I haven't seen any proper answer to the question what she achieved that does not reduce either to demographics or to "she was around when a thing happened". Maybe the skeletons thing is true in a meaning that everybody knew how bad she was, but calling it "good resume" - my goodness. She is on record as the most extremist person in the Senate - and that's not for the lack of competition. And you personally may think about her as charming but it doesn't look like many people who vote agree with you on that...
MadMonzer
Temporarily embarrassed liberal elite
1hr ago
I haven't played any Vicky or HOI titles, unfortunately (and I haven't played enough EUIV). This thread began with a Glitterhoof post, so I assumed we were playing CK2.
JarJarJedi
1hr ago
People weren't writing articles about Harris's likeability problems.
First of all, they didn't have time. She has been a candidate for about 100 days, and all of those were campaign days where serious objective scrutiny is not welcome at all. Second, writing an article like "experts suspect the ocean is wet" is also not going to make big waves. Read what people spoke of her before she was elevated, and you'll see plenty critique of her likeability.
ChickenOverlord
1hr ago
Does anyone else relate to this conflicted feeling?
Every damn day. I have an uncomfortable blend of paleoconservativism and libertarianism in my blood, and I've already resigned myself to the reality that I'll never be able to resolve the conflicts between the two. The best way I can cope with the conflict is to follow my gut moral intuition when I approach an issue where they conflict.
NBC reports:
The Baltimore Banner:
I don't particularly trust any news media or defense attorneys (and their clients), and even if they were being honest there's a lot of ways for people to have tried to portray their character as 16 and failed, but if true, it's not sounding like a Romeo and Romeo sorta situation. And given SAE's reputation, I expect their students would not be especially unfamiliar with the local laws regarding age of consent.
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