And so… would you want to block all israeli people? That’d be the analagous situation. What is it you’re trying to say?

If it’s just what you want on your own app that’s fine, of course - to each their own.

Question: where do you get duck fat? Or do you just cook a lot of ducks on the reg

Underwater, I have. I’ve seen two - a group of large barracuda and one extremely large eel - looked like a Giant Moray.

I was probably like 14-16 at the time, diving in the Atlantic and Pacific respectively.

Reactions for both were just to stay away from them and make sure they didnt come closer, while trying to get a good look. It was kind of surreal seeing them, because you don’t usually expect to encounter things like these.

Barracuda aren’t particularly scary, but they are some of the largest fish I’ve seen underwater - probably around 5ft (1.5m) long and I was within 20ft (6m) of two or three of them. They are also quite aggressive, though not usually to divers. I was swimming up from below them coming up from around 60-80ft (18-24m), so we got a good view of them swimming around near the surface.

This Giant Moray is the largest creature I’ve ever seen in the water bar-none. We were diving a reef, and as we swam over some rocky structures, there was this hollow in the rock - like a partly-covered underwater grotto - and in it I could see this absolutely massive eel. I thought it was some kind of coral or something until I saw its face. The surface I saw of the eel had to be nearly 1.5ft wide (45cm), since they’ye ovoid in cross-section I may have gotten the impression that it was larger than it really was. But even still, it must have been nearly that large in diameter and probably about 9ft (2.7m) long, though I couldn’t see all of it at once. I was a bit frightened just because of the sheer size of the eel, and I thought they were more aggressive than they are, but we couldn’t get too close because of the rock. It was really cool to see. In years since then I thought maybe I was misremembering the event because it seemed surreal to see such a large eel - but then I researched a bit and found that giant morays can be… giant… while there are other species that I’ve also seen that are much smaller.

I think they’re neat. Like with all wild animals, though, I want to keep my distance. Especially to the aquatic variety.

I experienced a sense of awe in both situations as well as a very real sense of how dangerous these animals could be if they wanted to be.

Better Nate than lever

I didn’t (and don’t) believe in the supernatural metaphysical claims made by any religion, and don’t like that it seems to give hateful people a reason to be more biggoted and spaces to find each other and organize behind hateful causes

There are plenty of good religious folks though. By 25 I had moved much more into a “live and let live” mindset about religion. I’d also started to look more into Buddhism and realized there was a lot of value in the Buddha’s teachings even if you set aside the supernatural claims about the nature of the soul, rebirth, etc.

Yeah this is just whack-a-mole.

Multibillion dollar business idea: shitload of shell companies that keep your data constantly in circulation, undeletable. Subscription service that just re-sends your data to companies after deletion.

Funny enough given it was in Utah, that’s essentially the exact opposite of what mormons think about why people are black

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curses_of_Cain_and_Ham_(LDS_Church)

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They purged roughly 10% - 12% of the opposition by parliament seats, yeah - that means it is at least that much less democratic. I’m just stating facts here. This isn’t a strong defense of the democratic values of Ukraine, just a statement that they aren’t wholly undemocratic as suggested in the meme - it’s misleading.

I agree that the situation isn’t treated with nuance, typically, by westerners. But in this case, this is neither particularly nuanced nor naïve - it’s just a statement of fact that the parliament has voted repeatedly to extend martial law.

That doesn’t mean Ukraine is a super-democratic country. It only means that it is the case that the government, made up of elected representatives (and yes, Ukraine banned 11 political parties for alleged Russian ties - one of them with ~10% of parliamentary seats - so the representativeness of the legislature is certainly debatable) has voted to not allow presidential elections until the war is over.

Obviously it’d take a much longer explanation to capture all of the relevant geopolitical context, but this is a factually accurate statement about what is happening, yes?

Referendum was incorrect. It was just a vote by the legislature, so elected representatives. I had seen Referendum used in some source, but I forget where.

On 26 February 2025, after a previous failed vote on a similar resolution,[27] the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution reaffirming that elections should not be held during martial law, and also pledged to hold a presidential election upon the conclusion of the Russo-Ukrainian War.[28] On 6 March 2025 opposition politicians Petro Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, after having confirmed that they had held discussions with United States representatives, confirmed that they still opposed elections held during wartime.[29]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Ukrainian_presidential_election

To be fair, they’re (understandably) under martial law which has been extended in 90 day increments since 2022 with parliamentary approval. Elections aren’t to be held under martial law per Ukranian law, and there have been referenda votes held among the Rada to determine if elections should be held, which failed.

Edit: referendum would entail direct democracy. That isn’t what happened - it was just a vote by the legislature.

Guy Extinguishi

“Bowr-gee-oh-eye-zee”

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Pure pacifism relies on an idealized view of humanity’s capacity for change.

Something like “by allowing me and my family to maybe be killed, we are helping to create a more peaceful world that will change people like my killer into a peaceful person. Who knows, in the instant before they murder us, maybe they will have a change of heart”

I think there’s an extent to which showing others kindness can help to change others’ behavior, but it’s really taking it to a ridiculous extreme if you apply it to like… your family being massacred by a really bad person/people. By that point, they’re too far gone and you should really do what you need to do.

Yeah, not good faith afterall. Learn to read, I guess.

Assuming you’re good faith, I really just don’t think it’s that simple. There’s also no whataboutism. If you had read and engaged with the OP and my comment, you’d see OP was directly comparing these countries to the West, which notably does include the US. My comment does the same, because I am engaging with the OP.

I’d recommend looking into the history of fascism if you want to learn what makes a country fascist. There’s many different viewpoints, and some do define fascism in a way that would capture what you’re saying and exclude the US. I don’t think those are very good definitions - they usually say “fascism is when dictatorship”, basically.

Others use definitions that explicitly tie fascism to particular ideological views (specifically views held by fascist Italy and Germany) like anti-semitism or anti-communism. That’s probably too prescriptive and excludes basically any government that is not Italy or Germany in the 20s-40s.

You can see a good summary in the wikipedia article caleld “definitions of fascism”. You’ll see there are many definitions of varying quality and historical accuracy. The best definitions, in my opinion, focus on traits that capture the governmental structure of fascist states that make them different from non-fascist states. That includes economic and structural points.

I think we can use a tighter definition of fascism. Fascist governments have these traits:

1. privatization of public goods/services (that’s a hallmark of fascism, they literally invented privatization in Germany in the 30s, and maybe actually Italy in the 20s)

2. some sort of in-group supremacy dynamic (racial in the case of Germany & Italy)

3. extreme nationalism & militarism

4. suppression of democratic groups (e.g. trade unions)

5. a government characterized by state-directed autarky, with production organized into government-sponsored cartels. (This is why privitization is important: that’s what makes this possible)

So, does the USSR have some of these characteristics? Sure. Of course. Modern day China, too. And the US & Russia. But to be fascist, a government needs to do these things at once - it needs to have the economic and structural factors that distinguish fascism from other forms of government.

I think the trouble is that “freedom of speech”, “freedom of expression”, etc. can be and are weaponized by colonial/hegemonic forces.

But, that said, that’s why I am not 100% supportive of this view. Possibly naïvely on my end, I think those sorts of freedoms are important not only for individuals but also as a check on state power. That said, I see how manipulative the US state department can be - and for that matter how manipulative foreign govts have been to the US - especially in recent election cycles… so I think it is a double edged sword.

That’s part of the reason I am also not a full blown anarchist/libertarian socialist. I can see the value in centralized state power when it comes to defending the state and people

I think they don’t completely diverge. I am sympatetic to this viewpoint, I just don’t fully endorse it. I think as leftists we should be generous to other leftists and their ideas.

Some do feel that way. Others feel that he isn’t a strong departure from where we were already heading. I think accelerationism is bad and we should never put ourselves in a position where fascism wins. Fascism needs to always be playing defense until it is totally defeated. Especially when it supports american hegemony, genocide, global poverty, etc.