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Joined 2 months ago
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Cake day: October 11th, 2024

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  • While i abhor Bush Jr, I would put Reagan as #1. He paved the way for Bush Jr. And Biden. IMO Bush Sr is tied for the #3 spot simply for pardoning members of the Iran-Contra affair.

    Nixon is one of the worst presidents we’ve ever had though, and I would put him higher than any of the others. The “war on drugs” caused so many rippling horrors domestically. And those horrors don’t compare to what he did abroad.



  • Cloudflare is a CIA front. They offer “free” DDoS protection + static proxy thereby giving Cloudflare the ability to MitM all TLS connections thru their servers.

    I just started to learn about privacy in depth this year, and this little fact about Cloudflare has sat with me more than most things that I’ve learned. I feel like very few people think about the implications of Cloudflare’s practices. Even if its not a CIA front (I feel like it is), we should feel uncomfortable giving any private entity such power. Unrelated, but their crazy lava-lamp wall, as cool as it is, kinda gives me bad vibes lol.


  • Either NATO goes and fights Russia directly, which is highly unlikely

    Yep, that’s evidenced by statements going back to 2022 by senior US officials (including John Kirby himself at one point I believe) stating that even if Russia used a tactical nuke within Ukraine, we would not respond with direct military intervention.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/will-biden-putin-goes-nuclear-experts-say-nuclear-response-unlikely-no-rcna32756

    If Russia used a nuclear weapon of any type, “I expect (the president) to say we’re in a new situation, and the U.S. will directly enter the war against Russia to stop this government that has not only broken so many international laws and violated human rights but also now violated the nuclear taboo,” said Evelyn Farkas, a former top Pentagon official for Russia and now executive director of the McCain Institute. “Putin will be signing the order on changing the regime.”

    But two U.S. officials briefed on the issue did not agree, with one saying, “Unless they use them on NATO we’re probably not going to respond militarily.”

    So if the use of nuclear weapons isn’t a red line, then what is? And back to your point, what’s the point of continuing this war if we’re not going to intervene and it’s only going to result in my Ukranian deaths? Personally, I think that the answer has been clear from the beginning. We’re willing to use the Ukranian people as fodder to dwindle Russia’s resources.







  • Correction, the developers, not the community, are flat out pricks (not “slightly unfriendly”), but this does nothing to remove how amazing the OS is for anyone wanting to remove themselves from all the mainstream garbage in the mobile devices scenario while being able to keep productivity with a few workarounds.

    Yep. I’m willing to deal with a prick developer who’s taking this on their shoulders. Theyve really produced something incredible with GrapheneOS. I’m not willing to deal with the pricks who sell my data to anyone and everyone. Especially pricks who have had contracts with various intelligence agencies.


  • My 99 honda civic had nearly 250,000 miles on it the day that it was stolen. When it was found, the thieves had gutted the dashboard of electronics and had removed wheels and other parts. When it was discovered by the police, they towed it to the city in-pound lot and failed to contact me for a couple days because the license plate had been painted over for some reason.

    Unfortunately the lot and towing fees ended up being more than what I paid for the car. I wasnt very well off at the time, so I surrendered it to the city. I assumed it would be scrapped for parts.

    6 months later it was served to me in ad for Facebook Marketplace. Some guy had fixed it up and had been driving it regularly for months with no issue.

    I still wish that I had bought it from him. I fuckin loved that car. I used it to deliver pizzas for 2 years, so i wasnt even that easy on it. I never had a major engine or transmission issue with it and the minor issues that I had were easy for me to fix myself. I bet it’s still running out there somewhere.


  • You have to remind yourself that Jewish people are just as negatively affected by this incorrect narrative, if not more. Jews are not a monolyth, and yet they are treated as such in the media. A nation state (if you want to call it that) is not synonymous with Judaism. We are watching an entire, vulnerable culture hijacked by imperial interests and capital with the intent of wiping out another vulnerable culture. Israel and their population is being used as a proxy and a buffer for the rich and powerful within the west to accomplish their goals in the Middle East.

    The facts are there, but the way they are presented matters. Yes, Israel is trying to censor our politicians and media in the US. Yes, most Israelis are Jews, but not all Jews are Israeli, and not all Israeli Jews necessarily agree with Israel. Israel is actively breeding Anti-Semitic sentiment by constantly associating their horrific and unlawful actions to the will of Jews. They further endanger Jews by misrepresenting their opposition and protests against them as antisemitetic. It ends up clouding the real rise of antisemitism in the world and causes people to treat it unseriously. They are doing the opposite of keeping Jews safe, and they are endangering them elsewhere in the world.

    In regard to controlling the media, the fact of the matter is that we’ve left ourselves vulnerable in the United States by letting anyone limit our free press and government. That includes lobbyists from any country, let alone one that’s actively committing genocide.

    Given your comment, I’m sure you know all of this, but others might not.


  • I understand how frustrating that must be. It sucks to have people tell you all of your life that you can’t do certain things because of your intelligence and then have someone tell you it’s “not real”.

    I think most people who say this (including the person you’re replying to) are trying to reassure you, not dismiss you. The origins of IQ are arguably racist/classist and the science behind it is disputed by many. I was told all my life that i had an above average IQ, but i never understood why. I didn’t feel smarter than my classmates and I did poorly in school. I later learned that I did well on the IQ test because of my economic background and the resources that I had available to me from a young age.

    Intelligence is such a broad concept that we frankly don’t fully understand yet. So the fact that we measure peoples intelligence and worth over a number is bullshit and dystopian. This is where the split in your experience comes from. You feel the effects of a low IQ because society values it too much. But most people know it’s a metric that’s used as a cudgel against others.

    In other words, I very much believe that you are treated differently and have fewer opportunities as a result of your IQ, but that’s an indictment of our society; not you. On top of it all, it sounds like you didn’t have the support network that other people have. Verbal and physical abuse from the people who should be our guardians and champions (your father) will stomp the spirit out of anyone.

    I know it might not be comforting, but I read your post and you didn’t seem unintelligent to me. Sure, your sentence structure might be different than mine, but you seem like a thoughtful and connected person. What I’m missing, most likely, is the effort, time and energy that it may have taken you to write your original post, which i dont want to discount. But you’re able to get your thoughts and feelings across just fine, at least in the form of writing.

    Alright, enough with the pep-talk. Do you have any interests or things you like to spend time with? Video games? Animals? Exercise? Drawing? Writing? Makeup? Anime? Cooking? It doesn’t matter if you think you’re bad at them – I’d recommend pursuing those interests. Sometimes volunteer work opens up opportunities that you haven’t considered. It can also help you create that social safety net that I was talking about earlier.

    I would try to get a job that gets you by (I know, easier said than done). Something like janitor work, fast food, retail, or hotel service. It doesn’t have to be permanent, but just something to keep a cashflow while you give yourself time and room to grow. I’m not sure where your located, but I would check for non-profits or local orgs that offer assistance to folks.

    Don’t let our psychotic and unhealthy society dictate your worth. You are a human being who has thoughts and feelings. Your ability to hold a job or quuckly solve a problem is relatively superficial.


  • I bought a Boox Palma and I love it. I know people have concerns about privacy related to android (though a kindle and/or Kobo are just as bad IMO). I never set up an Google account and it’s been in airplane mode since I turned it on. I wanted an e-reader that I could add books from my PC without any fuss. That’s all I need and it works well for that. I love the form factor too.




  • I rejected the request because of the “Do not feed the troll” rule.

    The majority of the people weren’t trolling in my eyes. They were upset because you said a game looked terrible without elaborating. You could have just kept that to yourself and said “not my cup of tea” but you ellicited a reaction, seemingly on purpose. And now you’re acting like the victim in the situation and doubling down. That, in my mind, is the definition of troll behavior. Which at least you admit I guess.

    Troll or not, I can see this discussion is going nowhere. So I’m just gonna mute this and move on.