Good and bad ideas are fairly equally distributed across the political spectrum.

Joined July 2022
I deleted that tweet about Malcolm Gladwell because the views he expressed on black dominance of the sprints in an interview I saw years ago were later updated and refined in a published essay in which he acknowledged factors other than just effort and culture.
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The people on this platform I respect the most are those who constructively criticize their own tribe (or don't even have a tribe), are ruthlessly guided by a coherent set of principles, will acknowledge and accept facts that do not flatter their own positions or worldview, change their positions when facts warrant it, avoid hypocrisy (or at least acknowledge when they are engaging in it), and are capable of stripping away their own personal history and any moral arguments in order to inspect the logical or factual structure of an argument (i.e., cognitive decoupling). But truth-seeking and intellectual honesty demand more than most people are willing to invest.
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If you knew how quickly people forget the dead you would stop living to impress people. — Christopher Walken
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Cartoonish fear porn from the imagination of the third-dumbest rightwing influencer in America. Too dumb to be enjoyed as camp and too earnest to be experienced with ironic detachment. A slobbering towering achievement in agitslop.
I used AI to create this short film. America, you’ve been warned.
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Awaiting the block.
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Prominent accounts are already expressing outrage over RFK Jr.'s comments, but it's actually even broader than what he's saying: Muslims in general (and not just Arabs) have not distinguished themselves in science, at least in the modern age.
RFK: "There's five hundred million Arabs in the world. And yet they don't produce science. They don't win the Novel Prize. They don't win the Fields Prize. They don't win the Wolf Prize. They don't produce literature."
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There was of course a golden age in Arab science, but that was around a thousand years ago.
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I just "vibe coded" something for the first time. It took the AI about 20 seconds to write the HTML for a type of online MP3 player that I've been unsuccessfully trying to find for years. It works perfectly and is exactly what I wanted.
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Isaac Saul ranks his top ten favorite fast-dining restaurants. I have never eaten at or been inside any of them. This is not at all about food or cultural snobbery. I imagine the food in these places is a good deal tastier than the bland fare I prepare for myself every day. It's probably just a reflection of my general detachment from the way most Americans live. For example, I don't have cable. Or a smartphone. I have never taken out a loan (except mortgages on my first two houses). I have never had a credit card. My car is 21 years old. I will be disappointed if I don't get at least another ten years out of it. I have worked two days a week most of my adult life. I've been inside a mall only twice in the past twenty years. I have never thrown a party. I have never operated a grill, and I don't even know what would be involved in doing such a thing. Maybe most other Americans could also provide a long list of non-conforming things about themselves. I don't know.
Replying to @Ike_Saul
1. Olive Garden 2. Chipotle 3. TGIF 4. Outback Steakhouse 5. Denny's 6. Chili's 7. Hooters 8. Buffalo Wild Wings 9. Applebee's 10. P.F. Changs
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Do you believe that Donald Trump, at a purely personal level, is an unusually morally flawed or even a bad person? (Select option corresponding to your political orientation.)
39%Yes/ Right-leaning
26%No/ Right-leaning
28%Yes/Centrist or Liberal
8%No/ Centrist or Liberal
5,130 votes • Final results
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i/o retweeted
Replying to @hasanthehun
I am once again begging you to look up the definition of fascism, and appreciate that the standard definitions contain several essential elements. The word is not simply meant to be applied to people who express extreme rightwing views you don't like. In other words: Grow up.
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Four years ago today. Although Elon Musk's transformation from reasonable centrist to misinformation purveyor and MAGA bankroller has been a big disappointment to me, his takeover of Twitter — while certainly not without its problems — has been positive overall, if for no other reason than that it allowed the posting of legitimate statistical and scientific information on issues relating to gender, race, immigration, and crime that had previously been met with user bans under the old regime.
Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!
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A recent example: Musk and assorted stooges spreading the false claim about James Talarico being admitted to a mental health facility. None of these guys ever publicly corrected the misinformation they posted, or apologized for helping spread the rumor for political gain.
One of the worst things about Elon Musk is that he just persists in saying things, in public, that are not true and never correcting himself or even admitting to a slight degree of nuance about it.
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Promoting one of the most retarded rightwing memes only happens if you're engaging in inexcusable bad faith or have had your brain baked by hyperpartisan politics or lack a commitment to truth-seeking. Here's what Hitler did once he was in power: He busted up unions, privatized or divested from certain industries (e.g., big commercial banks, utilities, heavy manufacturing, mining, shipbuilding, some public works, steel, mass transport, railway subsidiary companies, ship lines, a lot of state-owned property), didn't remove private property protections, dismantled social welfare programs, outlawed all (actual) socialist parties and organizations, and rounded up and executed people on the left (before he did the same to Jews). Hitler's involvement in the economy was consistent with the principles of fascism: The means of production were not seized, but the party maintained a more direct role in some regulatory aspects. Hitler argued that both social-economic hierarchies and inequalities were good for the country. How socialist of him! Combining the terms “national” and “socialism” was briefly popular across Europe in the 20s, but these movements tended to be interested in creating “social solidarity” based not on class, but on race or ethnicity or nationality. “Socialism” in this context bears no relationship to the term in its present one. I'll add: “But the German Nazis had 'socialist' in their name” is the same level of genius argument as “North Korea and East Germany were democracies because they had 'democrat' in their names.”
Hitler was a far left socialist. Literally in the name of his party!
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Musk's house AI chimes in.
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The idea that Pinochet, Mussolini, and Franco, who killed under 1% of their countrymen after they took power, were worse than Pol Pot, who murdered about 25% of his, is beyond absurd. And Pinochet probably did more good than harm overall. Pol Pot, on the other hand, destroyed almost everything he touched. His per capita domestic civilian death toll was higher than everyone on this list.
Top 20 Worst Dictators in History
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Locations of Uganda and Ethiopia are switched even though the leaders are correct share.google/bTcu2SAk3Z5NYL…
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I'll put it this way: Pol Pot's murder rate was over 80,000% higher than Pinochet's.
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"Just because it's hard to imagine doesn't mean you shouldn’t.” One of the Senate candidates in Texas is corrupt and the other has ideas untethered from common sense. A person on the left who doesn't understand human nature can be very dangerous if given any power or influence.
Democrat Nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas James Talarico: “Poverty is violence… Pollution is violence. Prison is violence.” “It's hard to imagine a world without prisons. Just because it's hard to imagine doesn't mean you shouldn’t.”
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