volkris @volkris@qoto.org

@freemo Hey such profound factual ignorance isn't exactly a GOOD thing :)

Yeah I'm happy to strongly fault people for this kind of basic lack of knowledge, when it's not exactly rocket science or state secret. And I'm also happy to consider that it might be intentional blindness, which makes it even worse.

If a person wants to talk about a president but hasn't bothered learning what a president actually does (or lies to themselves about what a president actually does) then I think they can't move forward from that.

At that point they're not even thinking about this reality, regardless of any reasoning they might need to build on top of that base.

@omegaman

@freemo and maybe just as importantly, basic knowledge of civics.

I seriously believe that if more people understood how the u.s government functions they wouldn't be as susceptible to these hysterical claims.

@omegaman

@omegaman It strikes me that I heard such outlandish claims before Trump was elected last time. People shouting that kind of foolishness look only more discredited after so many of the last claims didn't turn out.

It's crying wolf.

And in the end, I would say that if you want to oppose Trump then the best thing you could do is point out how ineffective he is, what a loser he was, instead of promoting these nutty ideas that actually earn him more support from the nutty base who might vote for him.

If you want to oppose Trump, why not point out that he's not the strong leader that would deport all the Muslims, or whatever, to a erode his support from voters who want to see that?

@freemo

@koteisaev Yeah when I said organized well I meant more about organized effectively and not so much in a positive way.

I completely agree about the issue of lies. And that's why I think it's so important to seek engagement to invite people to slowly recognize the small defects in their understanding that eventually makes them question more.

At least, that's been my experience.

@mral here's a link to the ruling for you to read for yourself.

If you read it you'll see that the ruling was explicitly against the ultra wealthy so it's only natural to defend it on those grounds.

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep558/usrep558310/usrep558310.pdf

@mark_ohe

@LeftToPonder@mastodon.social and yet, no matter how much you dislike them, if you want to make political progress you'll have to engage with them.

That's just how the math works.

Hold your nose if you have to, but if you want to get support for your causes then you'll need to communicate with them and find ways to get them to agree to what you want.

That's democracy for you.

@jackhutton

@jhavok@mastodon.social keep in mind that Musk didn't really pay for Twitter. He didn't have that kind of cash, so he had to tap a bunch of others to go in with him to buy the site.

And that's a great example of how these claims about him being the richest man in the world are based on some sketchy accounting that misleads a lot of people about the whole topic. But it makes for sensational stories and it feeds the myth so the claims get promoted even though they're not quite right.

So again, not gravity, it's just that the stories about his wealth are overblown.

@mxtthxw @speckmantel @fraying

@jackhutton where in the world do you see me saying anything pro-Russian?

If anything I was just pointing out a criticism of Biden for not supporting the anti-Russian cause.

@LeftToPonder@mastodon.social

@echanda overstated by sensationalist reporting.

@fraying

@koteisaev see I go the other way.

It's not that people can't self organize well enough. It's that they self organize and successfully get dumb things, they successfully vote against their own interests.

Whether they deserve that or not is a separate matter.

@fraying

@jhavok@mastodon.social It didn't, though. His bank accounts are notoriously unable to pay for the things he gets himself into.

Remember the whole drama around financing the Twitter purchase?

Because his money didn't accumulate the way you say here.

It's funny that one day people will make fun of the guy for not having money and then the next day complained that he has so much money.

No, that's not really how money works in a modern society.

@mxtthxw @speckmantel @fraying

@cy The problem is disagreement over who is and isn't the oppressor here.

I'd say the one looking to take away what somebody earned through their labor has a much better claim on that label.

@courtcan @fraying

@fraying because a lot of us know that such sensational claims are naive, because that's not really how wealth works?

@LeftToPonder@mastodon.social The mainstream Republican position seems to be that Biden was ineffective in managing aid to Ukraine so why should they keep funding Biden's program.

It's not about Ukraine directly since it's up to the president to manage the aid program, and they say he botched it.

@jackhutton

@stadsplanering A lot of them simply want to watch the fight

@flyoverproj it's always worth calling out such a misleading headline, and also judging the source negatively for running such misleading clickbait.

Vox needs to do better, so let's call them out until they do.

@YurkshireLad no, not really.

You don't have to pay a fee, but if you choose to it becomes incentive for folks to process your payment more quickly.

As for the amount of the fee, or the choice not to pay one at all, that's all part of your particular Bitcoin client.

Some of them give users the choice, but some don't.

@progressive_joe it sounded like she was making public statement all but admitting to the allegations.

What was wrong?

@NewsDesk

@flyoverproj SCOTUS doesn't have the authority to make a state kill a person.

That's not how the US legal system works.