volkris @volkris@qoto.org
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
It took Trump's people way too long to discover the phrase "nuclear dust" but here we are.
For all these weeks they had to grapple with the contradiction where he totally and completely destroyed Iran's nuclear program, but now the US needs to go spend serious resources because Iran's nuclear program continues.
If only someone had thought of "nuclear dust" weeks ago they could have squared that circle.
#BrianKilmeade: #Iran has to give up its "nuclear dust."Nuclear dust this, nuclear dust that.#USPolitics #rhetoric
volkris
boosted
Trump "failed to implement any of his major policy initiatives through executive order in any realistic sense. Think about the Alien Enemies Act, federalizing the National Guard, worldwide tariffs, birthright citizenship. These are the main pillars of Donald Trump’s policy presidency, the substantive aspects of it. And they’ve all failed":
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/16/opinion/supreme-court-trump.html
copy: @renewedresistance #politics #SCOTUS #HumanRights
#Trump often acts from a paternalistic mindset.
There's a trope of a father threatening, Do x or I'll do it for you, as in, Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you.
Well I think Trump gets this one backwards.
His latest rhetoric seems to be, Open the straight or I'll close it for you!
Siiiigh
I really do think he sees himself as something like a father to all, someone to give everybody advice and take care of everybody and end all the suffering and all of the other stuff.
He's just a really bad father though.
#Trump often acts from a paternalistic mindset.
There's a trope of a father threatening, Do x or I'll do it for you, as in, Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you.
Well I think Trump gets this one backwards.
His latest rhetoric seems to be, Open the straight or I'll close it for you!
Siiiigh
I really do think he sees himself as something like a father to all, someone to give everybody advice and take care of everybody and end all the suffering and all of the other stuff.
He's just a really bad father though.
Conservatives trying to square their circles...
#SeanHannity: NATO wasn't there when we needed them... I mean, not that we needed them!#USPolitics
MAGA, for years: #Iran is a death cult. They don't value life, and 42 virgins and etc.
MAGA, today: Why doesn't the death cult bow to our demands as we threaten death?
#Trump supporters keep suggesting that critics of the guy have a knee-jerk reaction against any position he takes, because it couldn't possibly be that the criticisms were founded.
But it's funny to realize that so many of his supporters have a knee-jerk reaction to assume that he's right. In fact, they are explicit about this, talking about having faith in his judgment even if they don't understand it.
Funny how that works.
Maybe in the back of their minds they recognize their own prejudices and just project that onto everyone else.
Every once in awhile Trump's die hard supporters accidentally lay out the case for him being a failure and a loser.
They just lack the self-awareness to hear themselves saying it, as they only interpret things as confirming their biases.
It does remind me of the moment in Arrested Development where Lucille says her husband is no criminal mastermind as he can barely operate the paper shredder.
#BrianKilmeade: #NoKings?! You think #Trump is a king? If he was a king he wouldn't have been such a failure on this and this and this and this......
I've said #NoKings is terrible branding because the other side gets to just say, well right, we don't have a king. It's so easy to brush off.
So what are alternatives?
Well I think I would start with No Felons off the top of my head...
This is why I've been saying #NoKings suffers from terrible branding.
The branding makes it incredibly easy for folks outside of the choir to brush it off.
#ClayAndBuck: This weekend there were more No Kings protests, and they were wildly successful, as we don't have a king in the US.#USPolitics
The high profile conservatives setting policy for the US right now are just this stupid.
He really didn't realize that an island has set coordinates, that #Iran doesn't have to go to the Russians to figure out what the coordinates are.
#BrianKilmeade: #Russia gave #Iran the coordinates of our base on Diego Garcia, you see.#USPolitics
I'm not.
@volkris If you're on the side of the majority of the Supreme Court, I have nothing more to say to you. Bye.
US conservatives are convinced that protests against #Trump are staged by people being paid to protest, but pro-government demonstrations in #Iran represent the legitimate feelings of the country.
(nevermind the dissonance of then expecting the country to pivot after regime change)
The conservative movement is being run by some of the dumbest people these days.
And that's how we get folks cheering on the idiocy that Trump engages in.
volkris
boosted
I Decompiled the White House’s New App
The official White House Android app has a cookie/paywall bypass injector, tracks your GPS every 4.5 minutes, and loads JavaScript from some guy’s GitHub Pages.
Archive: ia: https://s.faithcollapsing.com/q...
#uspol-technology
https://blog.thereallo.dev/blog/decompiling-the-white-house-app
#ClayAndBuck:Twice now #Trump has "bamboozled" #Iran by attacking them while they were at the negotiation table.THAT's how we know Iran is negotia...
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
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