@josephl-uk.bsky.social
Reposted
I'm extremely not the first to say it, but social media exposed rich people to the fact that some people didn't like them, and they SHATTERED.
Musk could have had the adulation he sought, for life, but just couldn't stomach people making fun of him on Twitter.
Musk could have had the adulation he sought, for life, but just couldn't stomach people making fun of him on Twitter.
It's amazing how much Musk's PR has warped and mutated over the years. From brilliant man of the future who had guest spots in every major movie and TV show to fascist groyper and king of the chuds.
May 10, 2025 at 4:59 PM
I'm extremely not the first to say it, but social media exposed rich people to the fact that some people didn't like them, and they SHATTERED.
Musk could have had the adulation he sought, for life, but just couldn't stomach people making fun of him on Twitter.
Musk could have had the adulation he sought, for life, but just couldn't stomach people making fun of him on Twitter.
Reposted
Guy Debord, the French Marxist theorist, wrote in his "The Society of the Spectacle" that capitalism has commodified modern life.
Advertising influences us to identify with images & symbols of consumption rather than authentic human relating. We become spectators of our own lives and thus alienated
Advertising influences us to identify with images & symbols of consumption rather than authentic human relating. We become spectators of our own lives and thus alienated
I don't want to blame *everything* on capitalism, but companies made a lot of money teaching girls to hate themselves. They they realized they could make even MORE money teaching boys to hate themselves, too, while telling them it's women's fault. And now we have to do a fascism.
"Being a teenage man feels like standing in a hallway with a dozen doors, and no one telling you which to pick," as opposed to being a teenage woman, which either appears to involve the same thing or people screaming at you to pick a door, right now, and when you pick it a new person screams at you.
May 4, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Guy Debord, the French Marxist theorist, wrote in his "The Society of the Spectacle" that capitalism has commodified modern life.
Advertising influences us to identify with images & symbols of consumption rather than authentic human relating. We become spectators of our own lives and thus alienated
Advertising influences us to identify with images & symbols of consumption rather than authentic human relating. We become spectators of our own lives and thus alienated
Reposted
two points on EHRC advice on trans people's use of public toilets:
1) trans people are being required to out themselves when using loo in public
2) how is it enforceable? What about cis people who don't conform to stereotypical appearance?
it's shit.
www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre...
1) trans people are being required to out themselves when using loo in public
2) how is it enforceable? What about cis people who don't conform to stereotypical appearance?
it's shit.
www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre...
April 25, 2025 at 9:25 PM
two points on EHRC advice on trans people's use of public toilets:
1) trans people are being required to out themselves when using loo in public
2) how is it enforceable? What about cis people who don't conform to stereotypical appearance?
it's shit.
www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre...
1) trans people are being required to out themselves when using loo in public
2) how is it enforceable? What about cis people who don't conform to stereotypical appearance?
it's shit.
www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre...
Reposted
The key phrase is "buying you time". Legal action, mass legal action, bureaucratic delay, can buy you time to organize better ways to beat the fascists.
The problem is most people don't know what that looks like. Most people were raised to believe in the system, so they freeze when the rules change
The problem is most people don't know what that looks like. Most people were raised to believe in the system, so they freeze when the rules change
There's a stage of democracy where the rule of law remains strong enough to be a serious deterrent to would-be authoritarians.
There's a later stage where the law can only slow down the authoritarians, buying you time.
And then there's the stage where the law is instrumentalized BY authoritarians.
There's a later stage where the law can only slow down the authoritarians, buying you time.
And then there's the stage where the law is instrumentalized BY authoritarians.
there's a scene in Conspiracy, a movie about the Wannsee Conference where the Holocaust was planned, in which one Nazi asks everyone in the room with a law degree to raise their hands almost the whole room does
you should not be framing your objections to this regime in terms of what is legal.
you should not be framing your objections to this regime in terms of what is legal.
April 26, 2025 at 6:43 AM
The key phrase is "buying you time". Legal action, mass legal action, bureaucratic delay, can buy you time to organize better ways to beat the fascists.
The problem is most people don't know what that looks like. Most people were raised to believe in the system, so they freeze when the rules change
The problem is most people don't know what that looks like. Most people were raised to believe in the system, so they freeze when the rules change
Reposted
Israel Kills Gaza Photographer Day After Cannes Film Fest Selects Doc About Her ino.to/AbKbqox
Israel Kills Gaza Photographer Day After Cannes Film Fest Selects Doc About Her
Fatma Hassona, subject of the upcoming film “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk,” was killed with her family Wednesday.
ino.to
April 18, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Israel Kills Gaza Photographer Day After Cannes Film Fest Selects Doc About Her ino.to/AbKbqox
I think “transportation” was a punishment following a trial so there was at least some judicial process even if it was deeply flawed. US is currently avoiding any judicial oversight.
Exiling people beyond the protection of US law without due process is not only unconstitutional, it's a rejection of the entire American revolutionary project. Sending people "beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences" is one of the grievances enumerated in the Declaration of Independence.
UPDATE: Trump seems to say for the first time that U.S. lacks ability to recover those sent to El Salvador if government deports someone erroneously. Says it’s totally up to Bukele. Seems to leave out that he could … ask Bukele to help fix an error. www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
April 13, 2025 at 7:36 PM
I think “transportation” was a punishment following a trial so there was at least some judicial process even if it was deeply flawed. US is currently avoiding any judicial oversight.
Reposted
Stop selling arms to Israel then.
April 13, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Stop selling arms to Israel then.
Reposted
Modern journalism's instinct/desire/strategy to lazily accept and pass on, without further interrogation, the nonsense counterfactual framing of whoever is acting in the worst faith, is a huge part of why we are here.
why is *every* newspaper/programme running with the headline "tariffs are paused" when they haven't been.
What's happened is that every country (except China) gets a flat rate of 10% for 90 days.
What's happened is that every country (except China) gets a flat rate of 10% for 90 days.
April 10, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Modern journalism's instinct/desire/strategy to lazily accept and pass on, without further interrogation, the nonsense counterfactual framing of whoever is acting in the worst faith, is a huge part of why we are here.
Reposted
guess where they got their weird trade deficit math from?
i went to the pit for y'all and brought back the screenshots with alt text
i went to the pit for y'all and brought back the screenshots with alt text
![chatgpt log:
What would be an easy way to calculate the tariffs that should be imposed on other countries so that the US is on even-playing fields when it comes to trade deficit? Set minimum at 10%.
Reasoned about trade tariffs and deficits for 10 seconds v
A straightforward (if naïve) method is to set the tariff rate for each trading partner equal to the percentage share of the trade deficit relative to that country's total imports-always no less than 10%. In formula form:
Tariff Rate (%) = max(10, (Trade Deficit ÷ Total Imports) *
100)
For example, if the US runs a $20 billion deficit on $100 billion worth of imports from a country, the calculated rate is (20/100)×100 = 20%. If the deficit were only 5%, you'd still impose a 10% floor.
This method ignores the intricate dynamics of international trade-such as elasticities, retaliatory measures, and supply chain nuances-but it provides a blunt, proportional rule to "level the playing field." One might implement it in Python like so:
[code]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:iyz5zf463ic52vqbonyu2ebu/bafkreigbalqxjorllnpelbwe5kcla5fdedxvgv3cicxdsrbdxarodif5ba@jpeg)
![Grok:
the deficit. The deficit as a percentage of total trade is
$295B/$582B = 50.69%. Using the formula Tariff% = 10% +
(Deficit% × Scaling Factor), we choose a scaling factor of 50 for illustration:
• Tariff = 10% + (50.69% × 50) = 10% + 25.345% = 35.345%, rounded to 35.3%.
This means a 35.3% tariff on Chinese goods could be proposed to offset the imbalance, aiming to reduce imports and encourage domestic production or exports.
Extending to Other Countries
To provide a broader view, here's a table of top US trading partners with 2024 deficits, using data from The Motley Fool and similar calculations (assuming scaling factor of 50 for consistency):
[data table headings]
Country
Deficit
(USD
Billion)
Total
Trade
(USD
Billion)
Deficit %
Calculate d Tariff %
China
-295
582
50.69%
35.3%
Mexico
-172
840
20.48%
20.2%
Vietnam
-123
(Data incomplet e, estimate)
~30%
25.0%
Ireland
-87
(Data incomplet e, estimate)
~25%
22.5%
Germany
-85
(Data incomplete estimate)
~20%
20.0%](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:iyz5zf463ic52vqbonyu2ebu/bafkreietqlxsi5akdrvtp2rwqpc6kt6g6bbb2dppqcfn2j4q7xkofn4f4y@jpeg)
April 3, 2025 at 12:42 AM
guess where they got their weird trade deficit math from?
i went to the pit for y'all and brought back the screenshots with alt text
i went to the pit for y'all and brought back the screenshots with alt text
Reposted
Could I please ask the press to stop reporting Trump’s rather arbitrary numbers of the tariffs other countries impose as though this were real? The WTO has a tariff database. You can look up the real numbers there.
April 2, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Could I please ask the press to stop reporting Trump’s rather arbitrary numbers of the tariffs other countries impose as though this were real? The WTO has a tariff database. You can look up the real numbers there.
Reposted
Contorting the killing of Palestinians into a “complicated” issue is the *same* media / propaganda tactic being used on trans people and immigrants in the U.S. It’s not complicated. This is why we need to have intersectional solidarity. It’s the same exact people generating the hate.
March 24, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Contorting the killing of Palestinians into a “complicated” issue is the *same* media / propaganda tactic being used on trans people and immigrants in the U.S. It’s not complicated. This is why we need to have intersectional solidarity. It’s the same exact people generating the hate.
Who guessed that the second time Article 5 of the NATO Treaty will be invoked the US would be the aggressor against Greenland or Canada that the rest of NATO will be on the other side?
Trump on Greenland: "Denmark is very far away. A boat landed there 200 years ago or something and they say they have rights to it. I don't know if that's true. I don't think it is, actually ... we really need it for national security ... maybe you'll see more and more soldiers go there."
March 14, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Who guessed that the second time Article 5 of the NATO Treaty will be invoked the US would be the aggressor against Greenland or Canada that the rest of NATO will be on the other side?
Reposted
1. Major news in transgender care.
Germany, Switzerland, and Austria have just released their trans youth care guidelines.
They strongly recommend trans youth care and slam the
Cass Review in England.
Europe is not "pulling back" on trans care.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
Germany, Switzerland, and Austria have just released their trans youth care guidelines.
They strongly recommend trans youth care and slam the
Cass Review in England.
Europe is not "pulling back" on trans care.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
New German, Swiss, And Austrian Guidelines Recommend Trans Youth Care, Slam Cass Review
The recommendations, released by the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany, come at a time when US politicians erroneously claim that Europe is "pulling back" on transgender care.
www.erininthemorning.com
March 9, 2025 at 4:10 PM
1. Major news in transgender care.
Germany, Switzerland, and Austria have just released their trans youth care guidelines.
They strongly recommend trans youth care and slam the
Cass Review in England.
Europe is not "pulling back" on trans care.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
Germany, Switzerland, and Austria have just released their trans youth care guidelines.
They strongly recommend trans youth care and slam the
Cass Review in England.
Europe is not "pulling back" on trans care.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
Reposted
We actually need more government employees to save money, ironically.
The thing is we know very specifically the damaging role of consultants on this project. The lack of in-house capacity (10 state employees!) led to outsourcing absolutely everything to people whose goal is less building trains than maximizing profit.
www.latimes.com/local/califo...
www.latimes.com/local/califo...
How California’s faltering high-speed rail project was ‘captured’ by costly consultants
When California shifted its bullet train plan into high gear in 2008, it had just 10 employees to manage and oversee design of the largest public construction project in state history.
www.latimes.com
March 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
We actually need more government employees to save money, ironically.
Reposted
“Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic,” they said. “That means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice and a third, a fourth. Then what happens?”
Abandoning trans people is 'fascist logic', says leading feminist philosopher
Leading feminist philosopher Judith Butler has declared that abandoning trans people or any minority is operating within 'fascist logic'.
www.thepinknews.com
December 18, 2024 at 8:04 PM
“Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic,” they said. “That means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice and a third, a fourth. Then what happens?”
Reposted
Perfecto. Or like: “Republicans don’t care about women’s sports. The richest 1% have taken $50T from the rest of us by constantly creating new things for you to be mad at or scared of. Leave kids alone.”
Here’s what Democrats should say about trans women and girls playing sports:
“Republicans don’t care about women sports. They just want you to fear young people living their lives freely—so you don’t get angry about their billionaire overlords picking your pockets and controlling everything.”
“Republicans don’t care about women sports. They just want you to fear young people living their lives freely—so you don’t get angry about their billionaire overlords picking your pockets and controlling everything.”
March 8, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Perfecto. Or like: “Republicans don’t care about women’s sports. The richest 1% have taken $50T from the rest of us by constantly creating new things for you to be mad at or scared of. Leave kids alone.”
Reposted
Joining a union is probably the easiest and best thing you can do rn.
Elon Musk and his band of interns are ransacking the government, and online, big tech is colonizing the web with AI slop.
How do the humans, the users, fight back? Guest host Cory Doctorow helps break down the carnage and even offers some words of hope.
Listen: www.buzzsprout.com/2425400/epis...
How do the humans, the users, fight back? Guest host Cory Doctorow helps break down the carnage and even offers some words of hope.
Listen: www.buzzsprout.com/2425400/epis...
February 8, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Joining a union is probably the easiest and best thing you can do rn.