pearable

joined 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Basically.

For example, tens of thousands of people die every year in the US because of inadequate access to health care. Universal payer would be cheaper and result in fewer preventable deaths. Centrists do not support the policy and thus are willing to let people die in order to support the parasitic insurance industry.

The genocide in Gaza, homelessness, prison industrial complex, climate change, etc. all get people killed in preventable ways. But we have to protect the owner class so we're not going to do any of the clear solutions. Letting people die needlessly is an acceptable result.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Explain Like I'm Five

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Libro.fm for stuff not at the library

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I think it has to do with complete distrust in western news and government (WNG). They can discount anything WNG says; especially when, it goes against their belief that the US is bad.

I believe we live in the most sophisticated propaganda machine ever developed but the folks who are a part of it mostly don't lie. They've got the same problem the tankies have but reversed. The folks who work in WNG believe the US is good. They naturally distrust and minimize any info that would conflict with their beliefs.

There's a lot of cognitive dissonance.

The only way I can navigate my belief in the fundamental inaccuracy of information is acknowledging it and accepting I don't have enough info to be certain a lot of the time.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

I think all bigotry can be used as a wedge to divide working people from their own interests. I wouldn't be surprised if Romani bigotry was used to control Europeans in the past. However, I think immigration is the most important wedge in the European context

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Bike poggies are worth looking into to keep your hands warm. Studded tires can help with slipping too

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Frequently the databases are impossible to properly search because the data being added is not normalized

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Trump is garbage at almost everything but he knows how to get ratings. I think he's capable of doing anything in the moment if he'll get attention for it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Thanks! Fixed!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Trees can explode actually 😅 Eucalyptus and Aspen trees are know to explode during bush fires.

They don't explode unbidden like you might assume given Trump's comment. He seems to do this a lot; he talks about something real, in a way that demonstrates he's garbage at communicating anything even remotely technical.

The real solutions is of course tending our forests to ensure there's not enough combustible material to cause dangerous fires. More resources for the forest service is essential. It makes me wonder if these gaffs are far more effective at directing our attention away from the substance of the problem with Trump

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Most taxes on asset sale is based on profit, subtracting the bought price from the sold price. Given the wording the tax would be on the sale price, not the profit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Lower Decks was my first star trek show. I've been enjoying The Next Generation so far. The first season was pretty bad. The second season was pretty good. The third season has been real good

 

Basically what the title says. I tend to lean anarchist but I'm not opposed to reading some Soviet sympathetic literature since I like to expand my horizons.

Edit: to be more specific. Parenti describes life in the Soviet Union as largely comfortable, perhaps too comfortable. People's needs are largely met. They have economic security. Most folks are quite skeptical of the news, "I know of all these disasters happening around the world but I don't know anything that's happening in my own country" and a general disbelief in the true news about the problems in capitalist countries. This results in a disatisfaction, particularly among the intelligencia and beauracracy, that results in the top down disollution of the USSR. From there he describes shock therapy and the deprevation that resulted.

How good is his research? How good are his sources? I believe quite strongly that we live in the most sophisticated propoganda machine ever devised. That makes me skeptical of a lot of the common narratives about the USSR but more than just the US is capable of lying and I'm curious how willing Parenti is to believe in obvious falsehood.

It should be noted he does criticize the USSR but at the end of the day believes in the project of state communism.

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