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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: August 9th, 2023

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  • I’m furious about this, and I don’t live in Georgia. The way the state treated opposition to this fascist fever dream was abhorrent and Anti-American. When I think about what these facilities are like, I can’t help but picture those propaganda videos of Al Qaeda training in the desert. I mean, they will certainly be training police to perfect the terror tactics that have kept Georgia law enforcement so racist and untrustworthy (no-knock warrants, swatting, shooting before asking questions, killing every dog they see for fun, etc. etc. etc.).

    Curious though, why include this part? Without any explanation it seems completely out of place. Also, why is this true, tariffs?

    It’s estimated that Atlanta’s 85-acre, $118 million training center — an increase from the previous estimate of $90 million — would cost more than double to build today.


  • It has definitely become more obvious lately, but this isn’t new. Anti-Zionism has been conflated with Antisemitism for as long as I can remember. I remember being called a “self-hating Jew” more than 20 years ago, for probing the myth that the IDF was the “most precise and humane army in the world.” That was a common trope in the 90s and 00s, but has always been utter bullshit.

    I was told I couldn’t be Jewish and called an “Arab-lover” for talking about my countless positive experiences being friends with Arabs, Palestinians, and Muslims in general. That they thought this was an insult just exposed their bigotry.

    Terminology changes, but there is rarely logic to raw hatred.








  • Yeah, definitely. I delayed my career after grad school because I was assured (by people who were already set for life) that working as an unpaid intern and doing academic fellowships for slave wages would get me a higher-paying job, especially if I waited long enough for the financial system to recover after the ‘08 crash. That was utter bullshit, and now I have significantly fewer assets than most other elder millennials, am way behind on my retirement savings (which lost thousands in the last week thanks to Trump lighting it on fire…), I will never own a home, will never be able to pay off my student debt, and will probably never be able to start a family. Oh and I have good credit, despite my hundreds of thousands of dollars of student debt. I’ve even had a good job for the last 5 years, but it’s all worthless bullshit when upward mobility is practically impossible, and even maintaining my current “wealth” becomes more unrealistic every day. I’m just surviving, that’s all. And I have it relatively good.



  • While this is the shittiest of victories, it’s still a victory. By dismissing the case with prejudice, the judge took away Trump’s leverage over Adams. The prosecutor had originally asked that the charges be dismissed without prejudice, so they could continue to threaten Adams with prosecution if he didn’t do what Trump wanted. That’s how they could hold this over him. This ruling was basically as far as the judge could go within the bounds of the law. It’s not ideal, but it’s definitely better than the alternative.

    I’m also confident there’s still a closet full of skeletons somewhere, so it’s not like this means Adams is now magically squeaky clean or anything.


  • As expected, a pretty wishy washy article from the nytimes. Based on all the recent court orders, I think the law is much more black and white on this than they make it sound. On top of that, notice how they say “lawful permanent residents are also protected by the Constitution,” which is true, but really only half the truth: any human being who exists on US soil is protected by the Constitution. Their legal status has nothing to do with it. So that’s a bit misleading. If you are undocumented you are still entitled to the same legal protections as a US citizen. The fact that many of the people targeted are documented matters of course, but not because they somehow get more legal protections than someone who isn’t. That concept is fundamental to our system.

    But legal experts question whether the actions of the targeted students meet this threshold. Lawful permanent residents are also protected by the Constitution, including free speech and due process rights, which could set up a major legal challenge. Lawyers for those whose student visas have been revoked have similarly challenged the administration on constitutional grounds.



  • I generally agree, but credit card debt in my experience is very different from student loan debt. I don’t make a ton of money, but I make enough to pay off my credit cards every month, which I use for all my purchases and most bills.

    But I also have hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loan debt, which only ever goes up even when I make all my payments. That debt will never realistically go away even if I make really high payments above the minimum, unless I win the lottery. Oh and I actually use my degrees at work, so college and grad school were a huge benefit to me, that I’ll never be able to pay off.

    Credit cards, when used properly, are easy to stay on top of if you use them within your means and always pay them off every month. Student loans, even when used properly, are essentially designed to keep you in debt. So I’m 100% in favor of boycotting student loan payments, but I don’t think it’s necessary to boycott credit card debt unless you’ve been scammed or seriously taken advantage of. But more power to you if you do!!


  • Casey Newton founded Platformer, after leaving The Verge around 5 years ago. But yeah, I used to listen to Hard Fork, his podcast with Kevin Roose, but I stopped because of how uncritically they cover AI and LLMs. It’s basically the only thing they cover, and yet they are quite gullible and not really realistic about the whole industry. They land some amazing interviews with key players, but never ask hard questions or dive nearly deep enough, so they end up sounding pretty fluffy as ass-kissy. I totally agree with Zitron’s take on their reporting. I constantly found myself wishing they were a lot more cynical and combative.