Elpis
@elpis.bsky.social
Australian data analyst and US politics geek; often @ElpisActual.
Surely an "Against Tyrants" use case.
November 14, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Surely an "Against Tyrants" use case.
I would say the latter category breaks down into people with bad politics (Manchin) and people who value moderation for its own sake (Sinema), who should be handled very differently.
November 10, 2025 at 4:55 AM
I would say the latter category breaks down into people with bad politics (Manchin) and people who value moderation for its own sake (Sinema), who should be handled very differently.
In this case it isn't because it's not actually doing sufficient good things at the cost of losing elections, but in cases where it is it is.
November 10, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In this case it isn't because it's not actually doing sufficient good things at the cost of losing elections, but in cases where it is it is.
It definitely is high-minded, that's just not always a good thing.
November 10, 2025 at 1:44 AM
It definitely is high-minded, that's just not always a good thing.
I agree that Palestinian nationalism is also to be opposed and don't personally support self-determination on principle, but it seems natural to be more hostile towards an ethnostate that exists than one that people want to exist but are clearly not currently in a position to create.
November 6, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I agree that Palestinian nationalism is also to be opposed and don't personally support self-determination on principle, but it seems natural to be more hostile towards an ethnostate that exists than one that people want to exist but are clearly not currently in a position to create.
The absolute principle of ethnonationalism and ethnostates being bad applies regardless of whether local demographics make oppressed groups a small minority (many 20th-century New World states) or a majority (Israel, UAE, 20th-century Old World colonies); that is why it is an absolute principle.
November 6, 2025 at 4:51 PM
The absolute principle of ethnonationalism and ethnostates being bad applies regardless of whether local demographics make oppressed groups a small minority (many 20th-century New World states) or a majority (Israel, UAE, 20th-century Old World colonies); that is why it is an absolute principle.
You.
Well, how about if you start with consistency and get to the only Jewish state last?
November 6, 2025 at 4:23 PM
You.
If the Rohingya/Kurds/some other stateless and persecuted minority established an ethnostate which was violently oppressive of other groups, would you argue that its existence and behaviour should be equally insulated from criticism?
November 6, 2025 at 4:19 PM
If the Rohingya/Kurds/some other stateless and persecuted minority established an ethnostate which was violently oppressive of other groups, would you argue that its existence and behaviour should be equally insulated from criticism?
Funnily enough I'm fairly sure a couple of the last m68k Macs do actually still meet the minimum requirements in their maximal configuration, I do wonder if anyone actually does that.
November 2, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Funnily enough I'm fairly sure a couple of the last m68k Macs do actually still meet the minimum requirements in their maximal configuration, I do wonder if anyone actually does that.
Someone should write a sequel set in the 1960s.
November 2, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Someone should write a sequel set in the 1960s.
There certainly have been candidates who followed that trajectory, but I can't see her being caught in an affair (Hart) or collapsing her campaign by going overly negative (Dean?).
October 26, 2025 at 3:13 AM
There certainly have been candidates who followed that trajectory, but I can't see her being caught in an affair (Hart) or collapsing her campaign by going overly negative (Dean?).
Metro area size is probably more important than local-government size for core cities, to be fair, so it's halfway between Fresno and NYC.
October 25, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Metro area size is probably more important than local-government size for core cities, to be fair, so it's halfway between Fresno and NYC.
Glad we can agree that he's in the same position as Cuomo, yes.
October 25, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Glad we can agree that he's in the same position as Cuomo, yes.
Her opponent is another Democrat who was endorsed by the local party chapters in the primary, I don't really see how leftists needing to support Sheffield and centrists not needing to support Mamdani can both apply.
October 25, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Her opponent is another Democrat who was endorsed by the local party chapters in the primary, I don't really see how leftists needing to support Sheffield and centrists not needing to support Mamdani can both apply.
I support the estate tax (at least as it applies to land and housing) because it disrupts property inheritance, not the other way around.
October 23, 2025 at 1:56 AM
I support the estate tax (at least as it applies to land and housing) because it disrupts property inheritance, not the other way around.
Inheritance of property is bad and should be disfavored by death taxes etc. in other cases.
October 23, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Inheritance of property is bad and should be disfavored by death taxes etc. in other cases.
The problem there is the cost of care, not confiscating a house after an owner with no surviving spouse dies.
October 23, 2025 at 1:22 AM
The problem there is the cost of care, not confiscating a house after an owner with no surviving spouse dies.
He's still more likely to win the general, IMO, but at this point it is not really clear if that would be good.
October 21, 2025 at 7:17 AM
He's still more likely to win the general, IMO, but at this point it is not really clear if that would be good.
Bing does actually work to an extent as far back as 95, though almost nothing loads because of insufficient TLS support in Firefox 1.5; but no, I just mean providing whatever the last working version for old browsers/OSes was as-is, not heavy ongoing maintenance.
October 15, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Bing does actually work to an extent as far back as 95, though almost nothing loads because of insufficient TLS support in Firefox 1.5; but no, I just mean providing whatever the last working version for old browsers/OSes was as-is, not heavy ongoing maintenance.
But this generally does not apply online; ideally platforms like Discord/Twitter/Outlook would follow the Reddit/Google model and provide a fallback interface rather than completely blocking systems they used to be perfectly functional on.
October 15, 2025 at 2:39 PM
But this generally does not apply online; ideally platforms like Discord/Twitter/Outlook would follow the Reddit/Google model and provide a fallback interface rather than completely blocking systems they used to be perfectly functional on.
Not, like, regular BSODs or similar hard failures, but the computer running hot and using nearly 100% of memory under moderate load happens multiple times a week.
October 15, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Not, like, regular BSODs or similar hard failures, but the computer running hot and using nearly 100% of memory under moderate load happens multiple times a week.
System requirements are always understated, though, my main laptop has 32 GB and sometimes has issues while running 10 (nominally required by OS: 2 GB), so upgrading would presumably not improve those performance issues with another 2 GB eaten.
October 15, 2025 at 1:44 PM
System requirements are always understated, though, my main laptop has 32 GB and sometimes has issues while running 10 (nominally required by OS: 2 GB), so upgrading would presumably not improve those performance issues with another 2 GB eaten.