Tom Ritchford

.uk ➡️ .at ➡️.ca ➡️ .nyc ➡️ .nl ➡️ .fr

Check out my silly little bot here: https://botsin.space/@fortune

email: tom.ritchford@gmail.com
github: https://github.com/rec

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Last Notes

2025-12-03 09:14:09 UTC

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I did send you something yesterday!

2025-10-27 09:22:12 UTC

https://fair.org/home/as-millions-march-against-fascism-nyt-warns-against-progressives/

2025-10-16 08:51:37 UTC

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George Carlin, repurposed by J.R. "Bob" Dobbs.

2025-09-21 19:02:11 UTC

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Very good choice!
Though I did like Pablo Connect. 🙂

2025-09-01 07:57:40 UTC

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It is a bad idea for people to believe that there is some exhaust port or horcrux that will destroy Trump when revealed, though I wish it were so.
I feel it's very likely that Trump will simply emit false Epstein papers. Or if the real ones come out, he'll just shout Fake News! and his base will eat it up.
It is my belief that a lot of the clinical sociopaths who support Trump aren't actually turned off by this issue at all.
1/

2025-08-27 07:27:23 UTC

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Ah, this was the comment with that suggestion of the premade venv!
I love it.

2025-08-25 11:24:15 UTC

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I'm very familiar with Raspberry Pi computers. I have four different generations of RP within 3 meters of where I write this.
I have always used virtualenvs to develop on them, because they're very convenient, and because that's how professional Python programmers do all their work these days to the very best of my knowledge.
You haven't explained what you're doing, or why you can't explain it. My guess is that you simply install your dependencies into the system Python.
1/

2025-08-22 17:34:28 UTC

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Well, a lot of the reason we left the United States is that the Democrats performatively prioritized symbolic gestures and annoying their opponents over actual actions that might change things, but in policy, were always "business as usual".
Without any real opposition, it seemed to us that the Repigs would always win. We never dreamed things would get so bad, so fast.
I think I read too many SF books when I was young.
/1

2025-05-27 09:09:33 UTC

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Use https://archive.us to get past these things.. 🙂

2025-05-07 14:19:32 UTC

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It makes me so, so sad.
I cried with relief when Obama won the election. Everyone flooded into the streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And I didn't even have very high hopes for him, but I assumed he'd deal with the thousands of felonies that led to the global financial crisis, that he'd close Gitmo, that he'd continue the fight on the climate crisis.
I can't even look at him now. And he was about the best the Democrats get.
I'm glad that you and I had a soft landing, anyway.

2025-05-07 11:10:11 UTC

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I wish I were surprised.
At this point, I honestly believe that until the Democrats are either replaced, or completely revamp themselves away from the center-right to the left, that America is doomed.

2025-04-29 21:06:46 UTC

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Quibble - I think it was Peter Brown's book on the Beatles where I discovered that in fact the Beatles were paying a marginal 96% tax rate, worse than the song!
But "one for you, twenty four for me" doesn't scan...

2025-04-29 15:38:25 UTC

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Look at what other stuff went on during Clinton's time - NAFTA, the "Defense of Marriage Act", Welfare "reform", "three strikes you're out", the repeal of Glass-Steagall (he didn't actually spearhead that last one, but he signed the bill without comment), "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".
Channeling a Haïtian friend: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/11/haiti-and-the-failed-promise-of-us-aid
This isn't all a mistake - the Clintons are really the people their words and actions make them out to be - capitalists.

2025-04-29 15:33:36 UTC

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> maybe Clinton's idea was that, if he taxed internet, the costs would end up hurting the people at the bottom
In 1998, less than half of Americans were on the Internet, and Amazon sold only books. The average internet speed was 44.3 kbps, or about 0.02% of today, so video and streaming did not exist.
The people at the bottom simply weren't on the Internet at all.
1/

2025-04-29 13:59:19 UTC

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In the last 40 years, tens of trillions of dollars of new wealth poured into America from technology, and none of that money made it into the pockets of that poorest 50% - indeed, they are more insecure than ever.
For example, Bill Clinton's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Tax_Freedom_Act was essentially the death of Main Street - of course, Walmart, who has been given huge tax breaks by both R and D was also involved.
/2

2025-04-29 13:51:58 UTC

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Obamacare isn't socialized medicine.
Obamacare forces you to buy US health insurance or you get a nasty fine; if you're very poor, it's subsidized.
The trouble is that a lot of US insurance is unbelievably bad - like United Healthcare - so you often get no real value out of it.
And if you're working poor, you don't get the subsidies.
Here in France (where we now live), if you're in the system, you pay zero for everything.
1/

2025-04-28 11:44:12 UTC

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Thanks for reading my rant, written in all love.
Very best wishes.
/thread

2025-04-28 11:43:51 UTC

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Either the Fascists dominate forever.
Or the Democrats become an actual left wing party, a strong advocate for labor above all, free medicine, free post-secondary education, extremely high taxes on rich people, nationalizing or restricting key industries like Twitter which flout the law... etc.
Or conceivable a new left wing party will spring up and revitalize America. But the DNC has proven very talented at crushing anything to the left of "center right".
/9

2025-04-28 11:40:47 UTC

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Whenever Americans are asked about socialist policies but cast in a way that is politically neutral, they generally end up in favor of them.
More, this is after generations of the Democrats, the supposed leftists, refusing to go to bat for fundamental ideas like socialized medicine and all the rest.
Without fierce champions, how are people to even know that a better world is possible?
So there are three choices:
/8

2025-04-28 11:37:47 UTC

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...offering the services that a modern government in a developed country offers, which isn't just free medical care, but things like a *right* to vote - you don't have that in the US, you know - which means free and easy to get ID, active outreach by impartial election officials to make sure people who have a right to vote have everything they need, and mandatory time off for everyone to vote;
and I'm going to stop here, because you can imagine the rest.
/7

2025-04-28 11:33:50 UTC

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We have had two brief series of wins in this century - FDR's New Deal, and the 1960s.
The New Deal came from the Democrats, the changes in the 60s had their support, but then the Democrats also came to support the tremendous generational heist of the US economy from the pockets of poorest 50% into a tiny number of rich people.
The only way for change to happen is that either the Democrats completely revolutionize themselves and become a modern leftist party
/6

2025-04-28 11:28:27 UTC

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I left in 2016, when neither party was talking about it. In 2008, the Obama administration banned the mention of single payer from any of the discussions about the ACA, and also refused to allow any comparisons with any foreign healthcare systems, and I knew the game was up.
Why am I telling you this?
Because if we don't understanding our history, we're going to repeat our mistakes over and over again.
We've been fighting and losing for generations.
/5

2025-04-28 11:24:43 UTC

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But after just two decades, Reagan came in, and anti-authoritarian America never recovered.
While the majority of the blame is of course with the Republicans, all hope was lost when the Democrats starting with Clinton moved sharply to the right on everything except identity politics (which isn't actually left or right, anyway).
When I moved to the US around 1984, both parties were promising what was essentially socialized medicine.
/4

2025-04-28 11:20:52 UTC

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Please remember that free speech was sharply restricted in World War 2; in the Second Red Scare (1947-1957) in the United States thousands of people had their lives destroyed simply because they had leftist beliefs; then America had a brief, o so brief period of enlightenment where civil rights were codified in law, where much pollution was made illegal, where demonstrations by Americans stopped an unjust war.
/3

2025-04-28 11:15:50 UTC

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Now Trump has those sparkling new nuclear weapons that Obama started to build for him to terrorize the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renovation_of_the_nuclear_weapon_arsenal_of_the_United_States
----
The idea that something just recently went off the rails is entirely false. America has been sprinting toward this precipice for over fifty years.
When the Republicans ruled, the pace accelerated to a fast run; for the Democrats, it slowed to a walk; but never did America turn around and walk away from the precipice.
/2

2025-04-28 11:10:00 UTC

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America has been authoritarian for generations.
Don't get me wrong - Americans must the current full-on assault on the rule of law, human decency, and literally truth and logic!, by all means necessary.
But the office of the President has simply gotten stronger and stronger over the years, decades and centuries.
Nixon, Reagan and W Bush were outright authoritarian; Clinton, Obama and Biden did nothing to roll back these extra powers.
And now here we are.
1/

2025-04-25 11:15:21 UTC

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I mean, it's not a bad idea, though it's coming from bad people and is massively marked up.
If the stuff hits the fan, and it seems inevitable at this point, a lot of communities will essentially be on their own. Having the best modern information on first aid, farming, maintaining mechanical machinery and the like would be very useful.
The one part I'm skeptical about is that it's on memory cards. I couldn't find a definitive answer for how long SD cards last...
/1

2025-04-16 16:33:19 UTC

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""Who would not get glam before the flight?!" Sánchez told the magazine.
""Space is going to finally be glam," added Perry. "If I could take glam up with me, I would do that. We are going to put the 'ass' in astronaut."""

2025-04-16 16:32:05 UTC

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You have a quote from Gayle King, a "TV personality" who went on a totally frivolous space flight with absolutely zero scientific value, but you illustrate it with a picture of NASA.
My wife described this as jaunt as "patronizing to women and ultra-capitalist" and I can't think of a better way to describe it.
"[...] speaking to Elle ahead of the flight, the crewmates discussed wearing makeup and doing their hair for the brief spaceflight.
1/

2025-04-02 07:54:22 UTC

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Humans baffle me.
On one side, the Republicans are trying to literally destroy their country and the environment.
On the other side, they made a movie with a non-white person in it. Was it actually made by "the Democrats"? No!
What goes on in your head when you equate these two!?
I might add that from having been an actor myself, it's very clear that 90% of the good roles were written for white people so either we X out people of color, or we use non-traditional casting.

2025-04-01 14:26:18 UTC

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But there's no "radicalization" of the Democrats.
I moved to the United States around 1984, and both parties were talking about socialized medicine. Now neither is.
Both parties are pro-war. Both are pro-Wall Street and pro-Silicon Valley. The Republicans are fiercely anti-union, the Democrats claim to be pro-union but in fact crush any strikes when they are in office.
Radicalization of the Democrats would have been charging the Bush administration with war crimes.
1/

2025-03-27 10:08:11 UTC

Just a note that if you're an America and say stupid shit like "Both parties are the same", I will mock you.
Now don't get me wrong. I utterly detest the DNC for refusing to oppose evil, and their flaccidity is why we now live in Europe.
They should have rebootte out the DNC decades ago.
But once it came down to Trump vs Any Sane Human, you as an American were morally forced to vote against Trump, and if you decided not to, to send a message, you're a drooling idiot.
1/

2025-03-26 09:56:13 UTC

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I mean, with a name like that, no wonder. "Cro power!"
Funny, I haven't seen the name Cro Magnon in such a long time, and now it just jumps out at me as French (which it is).

2025-03-26 09:41:44 UTC

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Neanderthals were peaceful creatures who created art and buried their dead with mementos.
It's quite likely that they just got slaughtered by their more violent cousins, h. sapiens.

2025-03-26 09:12:35 UTC

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You're quoting someone who was encouraging people not to vote for Biden in the last election.
How did that strategy work out for America and the world?
Now, don't get me wrong - I detest the Democrats. We left the United States on December 1, 2016, because we expected HRC to win! But Trump is much worse.
A US voter's strategy should be to support viable third parties, to fight fiercely against the right. But when it comes down to mediocre D vs black evil R, there's one choice.

2025-03-22 16:53:20 UTC

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Lovely, concise explanation.
I would note that "r" isn't a semivowel in most non-English languages, and I've always wondered if that was why so "r" is so frequently the subject of speech impediments, but in English only.

2025-03-22 16:49:30 UTC

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Oh, and you might be shocked to learn that I'm on a cutting edge project, pytorch, and all the developers on my team are basically working on an old fashioned text window! (I make some use of VSCode as do the other developers but we are developing on a big, remote machine...)

2025-03-22 16:47:08 UTC

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Punch cards were just dreadful. I hated them and I'd already used an interactive machine!
Overall, programming in the 70s and 80s was hard and by today's standards extremely unrewarding in terms of results.
I have a lot of sentimentality about the time, but none about the technology. 🙂

2025-03-22 14:56:40 UTC

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I started programming in the 1970s (and yes, I used punch cards a little), but I never saw a black and white screen. They were either green or orange (like the old DEC terminals...)

2025-03-22 14:47:08 UTC

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For the record, I'm a far-left socialist living in France, and I don't want the US government particularly to read my correspondence (and I have a real reason for this).
So what are your arguments against privacy again?
You: "If you support privacy, you support gang rape!"
You: "if you support privacy, you support Donald Trump!"
And nothing else!
These aren't arguments - they're just insults.

2025-03-22 13:33:06 UTC

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This is you: "Dominique pelicot supports this message even harder."
As I explained, implying that the reason to want strong encryption is that one is pro-gang-rape is insulting and offensive.
Calling people pro-gang-rape is very very Twitter.
You haven't bothered to make any argument or even any claim I could refute.
I'm a law-abiding citizen, but I don't want all the governments and corporations of the world reading all my correspondence.

2025-03-22 13:19:13 UTC

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Empty comment.
Your idea that the reason to support strong encryption for individuals is because you are pro-rape is appalling, and you make no argument for it.
Back into your cave, little troll.

2025-03-22 13:08:53 UTC

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Peut-être devriez-vous écrire en français, car ce que vous écrivez en anglais n'a aucun sens.

2025-03-22 11:33:16 UTC

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Unexpected, how?
Compared with the United States, France has been far more rational for generations now.

2025-03-22 11:29:38 UTC

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You: "I'm going to keep comparing people who disagree with me to rapists, because that's the sort of intellectually empty and cruel person that I am."

2025-03-17 10:02:31 UTC

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Because a large number of people know Python.
Because there isn't a compilation phase so people can just tinker with the code live.
Because in most modern web servers, most of the time the CPU is just sitting there.

2025-03-17 09:56:17 UTC

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I started boycotting the NYT when they started pushing for the Iraq War. I never stopped. I came close when they apologized and appointed a Public Editor, but a couple of years later they closed that job down.
But all is not lost. You can still link to their reporting without giving them a dime, by using archive.is or other fine services:
https://archive.is/SV5Rn

2025-03-16 10:59:09 UTC

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Hey, I completely understand, personal ties are more important than anything else!

2025-03-15 09:53:26 UTC

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We moved from NYC to the Netherlands in December 2016, and to France last year, and, well, we're not coming back.
Salaries are lower but quality of life is much, much higher. There are actual socialists everywhere. (That's a good thing.)
Tell your daughter to stay here if she possibly can!

2025-03-06 11:56:22 UTC

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2 minutes, 40k of data, that's almost 2700 bits per second, or almost 3000 baud!
That's a lot. I'll bet you've never counted to 2700 in your life. You should be thankful for what you have.
/attempt-at-wit
Man, I started writing computer programs around the time that 19200 baud seemed fast. I would never go back. 😀

2025-03-04 18:19:38 UTC

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I know you move in mysterious ways, and to be honest I don't even believe you exist, but for Christ's sake, can't you *do* something?

2025-03-04 11:59:51 UTC

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That is one of the cooler things I've seen for quite a while.
Even though I have a strict promise with myself not to buy gear until all our gear comes from Amsterdam, I'm salivating.
(I have too much gear anyway, so when it comes, I'm going to be triaging it. I need some musical project here, and I don't know yet what that will be...)

2025-03-04 11:57:29 UTC

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Hello. Why are you spamming us with all these?

2025-02-25 10:31:57 UTC

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You aren't even telling the best part of the story. When she finally sued for ownership of the paintings, almost everyone assumed it was a scam, because she was a woman and no one had heard of her. The judge asked both partners to paint a Keane painting in the court. She came in and painted a perfect painting: he claimed he had injured his wrist.
What a scumbag.

2025-02-24 16:20:27 UTC

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I suggest attention to your anger management skills.
The person posting made no comments at all about what they felt about it.
Me, I noted that the worker who is "stepping down" was a person of color and wondered...
(It's very likely I have never seen NBC Nightly News, and certainly not in well over a decade.)

2025-02-17 11:36:55 UTC

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Sadly, AWS counts: it's about 60% of Amazon's profits, it seems: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/31/amazons-cloud-unit-records-highest-profit-margin-in-at-least-a-decade.html
I personally use Linode precisely because I detest Amazon so much.

2025-02-15 11:02:57 UTC

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> I'm not sure why most people never learn the lesson.
It's pretty simple.
Your average person isn't going to set up their own blogging system because they can't. They aren't going to use use Mastodon, because none of their friends and family will be on it.
These aren't problems that will be fixed by convincing your Mum to move to the Fediverse. Only anti-monopolist legislation could fix it.

2025-01-25 11:29:23 UTC

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Unfortunately, in the US a government can't actually "collapse". No matter how bad a job the President does, he gets four years, unless he gets impeached. More, given the Supreme Court and Congress, he won't impeached.
Parliamentary democracies really do win on that issue, where a Prime Minister can lose his job in minutes if he really fucks up.

2025-01-02 09:39:04 UTC

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https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/your-online-secrets/201409/internet-trolls-are-narcissists-psychopaths-and-sadists
The reason you reveal this to a total stranger is that you are desperate help for your serious mental illness.

2025-01-01 22:20:11 UTC

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You brag about being a troll - but this is a sign of serious mental illness: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/your-online-secrets/201409/internet-trolls-are-narcissists-psychopaths-and-sadists
Get the therapy you so desperately need. You are a danger to yourself and others.

2025-01-01 12:41:39 UTC

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You don't seem particularly fact-oriented.
Are you sure you wouldn't be happier as a Republican? Then you could simply say, "I don't care about the facts, I'll believe what I choose to believe" all day long.
And I'd add that Obama, Clinton and Carter were all neoliberal Presidents, and each of them helped degrade the social safety net.
Oops, sorry, forgot you don't do facts.

2024-12-30 13:50:57 UTC

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The headline of that article is just this: "Jimmy Carter".
The first sentence of the article is "Jimmy Carter has died. Carter was a pretty bad president and then one of the two greatest ex-presidents, along with John Quincy Adams."
I welcome your reasoned, profanity-free explanation of what's wrong with that sentence.

2024-12-30 12:07:53 UTC

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Ronald Reagan was the architect of all our misfortunes. I detest him with all my heart.
But that doesn't blind me to the fact that Carter's neoliberal policies, his obsession with austerity and inflation, and his indifference to workers, laid the groundwork for Reagan.
Tip for you - try reading the article next time before being personally insulting.

2024-12-24 09:27:13 UTC

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How long should you spent in a relationship with someone who has contempt for you?
Decades of "If you don't like it, leave", so I finally did.
And yes, I am fully aware that most people can't leave.
Now that's out of the way, you could consider addressing any one of my substantive points about how the Democrats have completely screwed the pooch.

2024-11-28 07:27:50 UTC

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I sent you a few bucks - use it in good health!

2024-11-26 17:39:19 UTC

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I did, that was it!

2024-11-26 17:36:42 UTC

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"Il me regarde."
We're in an AirBNB in Rouen, and the closest book is not one of mine.

2024-11-09 11:56:25 UTC

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> I guess it's easy to understand why you don't get it.
Got any actual rational arguments there? No, just an insult.

2024-11-09 11:22:27 UTC

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Without a primary, the DNC were forced into picking the VP, Harris, as President - someone who had never even run for a national level public office before, but also, a conservative Democrat who is willing to tout evil things like "the most lethal military".
A lot of the reason I'm here in Europe is because 30 years of having two pro-war, pro-Wall Street, pro-fossil fuel parties just wore me down.
4/

2024-11-06 10:33:07 UTC

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Some sort of specific, as well as reasoning, facts, logic, or arguments would be very useful in evaluating your claim, which seems to be "Trump won't do what he has said he will do."
> absurd fantasies.
When your only arguments are insults, you should stop and reconsider.

2024-10-05 19:02:37 UTC

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The article you posted says, "Obama, had "total control" of the Senate from September 24, 2009 until February 4, 2010", which was how I remember it too.
That would have been more than enough time to bring, say, Roe v Wade into law, as he promised repeatedly during his campaign.
In the US, you tend only to get short windows to pass legislation, and you need to make the best of them.
"The dog ate my homework" has been the Democratic motto for generations now.
1/

2024-09-05 19:01:48 UTC

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This is a war that has gone on for over 50 years, and a war where Israel, a far richer and more powerful nation, has consistently killed more than ten times as many Palestinians as Israelis have been killed.
But on top of that, which I mentioned and you ignored, is the decades-long restrictions on food, water, medical supplies, electricity and building supplies.
You seem unwilling to admit even the slightest wrongdoing by Israel. Your bias is clear.

2024-09-05 18:58:04 UTC

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You are proposing that Israel invaded Gaza for reasons other than acquiring territory. What exactly would those reasons be?
> “I am in no way a supporter of Hamas BUT…” is not a good way to start a sentence, especially regarding a discussion of the aftermath of October 7.
Why, exactly?
Since then, Israel has killed 40 times as many people as were killed on October 7.
Before October 7, well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_casualties_of_war
2/

2024-09-05 18:53:47 UTC

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> This suggests you are not especially familiar with the 1967 war or its origins. But yes, before that, Gaza was under Egyptian rule.
I'm sorry, I'm not seeing your point. Is it "because Gaza was under Egyptian rule, a territorial war of conquest doesn't count"?
> Additionally if land was really the goal, why would Israel have returned the entire Sinai peninsula? Seems illogical.
?
They famously gave up part of their gains to gain peace with Egypt.
1/

2024-09-05 17:28:28 UTC

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Actually, it is very reasonable to point out that one side is killing 20 times as many as the other.
Israel started this war 50 years ago by invading Gaza. Their stated reason was that they wanted more land.
They have continued to prosecute this war for two generations since without any respite.
I am in no way a supporter of Hamas but they are the logical consequences of a brutally maltreated population without any hope for the future.
1/

2024-09-02 17:28:05 UTC

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Oh, got it, you're thinking that this is a good headline, and one that the NYT and similar outfits should emulate...?

2024-09-02 15:19:06 UTC

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But I see no moral or ethical argument from you. Why not explicate it?
Be sure not to forget the far, far greater number of innocent Palestinians killed; the deliberate targeting of schools and hospitals; the fact that Israel is illegally occupying the Gaza strip; the fact that Israel has a far more powerful military that Gaza; that supplies of things like water and food are completely controlled by Israel.
1/

2024-09-02 15:19:06 UTC

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But I see no moral or ethical argument from you. Why not explicate it?
Be sure not to forget the far, far greater number of innocent Palestinians killed; the deliberate targeting of schools and hospitals; the fact that Israel is illegally occupying the Gaza strip; the fact that Israel has a far more powerful military that Gaza; that supplies of necessities like water, food and electricity are completely controlled by Israel and massively restricted.

2024-09-02 09:18:57 UTC

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Sort of baffled. The news is surely that a surprisingly large number of Republicans, 25%, support the campaign of their female, Black opponent?

2024-09-02 08:58:31 UTC

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The death toll in Gaza is 40,602 Palestinian and 1,478 Israeli.
So for those six hostages, there are over 200 Palestinians dead.
For decades, every year Israel has killed over ten times as many Palestinians as the other way around, now with tactics like deliberately destroying schools and hospitals and jailing doctors.
So no, six dead hostages are not as horrific to me as wholesale torture of doctors and complete eradication of hospitals.
https://theintercept.com/2024/05/24/gaza-palestinian-doctors-hospital-detained-missing-disappeared/

2024-08-25 10:12:18 UTC

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You could still have dropped it all the way to the right....

2024-08-25 10:10:19 UTC

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😲

2024-08-25 10:03:48 UTC

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if it had been one space to the left, it would have scored three rows!
I assume we were all just asleep...

2024-08-25 09:58:04 UTC

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Man, we blew it really hard with that I!

2024-08-25 09:57:45 UTC

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right

2024-08-24 19:40:29 UTC

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Really quite astonishing. I feel my eyes glaze over even at third hard...

2024-08-24 16:25:17 UTC

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65?

2024-08-24 14:22:51 UTC

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My guess... page 33.
But then I'm a pessimist.

2024-08-19 17:56:18 UTC

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That's not "Mastodon" - that's a particular instance, mastodon.social.
Mastodon is composed of completely independent instances. Some of them are Fascist! Some are radical leftist. mastodon.social is pretty liberal centrist and pretty low rent.
I personally never see the Fascist instances because my Amsterdam instance blocks them all, and probably vice versa.
> Gargon runs the place
I have no idea who "Gargon" is but he holds no truck outside his instance.

2024-08-15 23:07:52 UTC

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Sarcasm is feckless. Do better.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2023/06/we-now-know-the-full-extent-of-obamas-disastrous-apathy-toward-the-climate-crisis
https://archive.thinkprogress.org/obamas-worst-speech-ever-we-ve-added-enough-new-oil-and-gas-pipeline-to-encircle-the-earth-e5e24a156910/
Protecting the banksters was an executive branch decision. Protecting BP was an executive branch decision. Warrantless assassinations of US citizens was an executive branch decision.

2024-08-15 22:55:41 UTC

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I have very high hopes for the Harris/Wals administration.
But it would be better not to remind us of the failed promises of the Obama administration by repurposing old design styles. Obama's love of fracking and fossil fuels, of bankers, and of war, his fumbling of the Supreme Court, these are still affecting us negatively do this day.
We need something new, real and true, not empty slogans like "Hope", "Change" and now "Forward".

2024-08-13 09:50:54 UTC

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https://peachfront.diaryland.com/enderhitlte.html
The whole series is an apology for genocide, FFS!
Card is a far-right homophobe, too.

2024-08-05 21:12:21 UTC

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Why the Democrat-controlled US Federal government continues to use Twitter, a far-right-wing site that took off the mask and has gone aggressively for the Republicans, just baffles me.

2024-08-04 11:00:55 UTC

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This is you, right?
https://toot.community/@npub1m7m…2e7k/112903211561649859
Thanks for bringing this to my attention! I'll be blocking your server and suggesting to my instance that we also block you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nazi_bar

2024-07-08 15:05:14 UTC

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A tiny fine, for Boeing.
Their annual revenue is $76.442 billion, so this fine is about 0.3% of it. Their gross profit is $7.677 billion, so this is about 3% of it.
And they can take the fine off their taxes.
They'll do it again in a heartbeat.
I propose instead a $25 billion fine, and 25 year jail terms for the entire C-suite team. Now that would be a deterrent.

2024-07-07 17:41:24 UTC

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Not in the slightest. I am absolutely certain that both my friends who died would support me entirely on this matter.
I really don't appreciate being told that "dying in the street can be OK", I detest the idea that a society that takes care of its weakest members is a slave state, in exactly the same way that I don't appreciate the unsolicited personal insults and lack of reasoning from you.

2024-07-07 09:38:51 UTC

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> Dieing in the street can be ok.
Actually, I was extremely unhappy when my friends died, and I don't think they were happy to die that way.
But you can go ahead.
> do they die as socialist wage slaves or as free?
They died as miserable, filthy homeless people, with serious mental health issues from lack medical care.
> You are making other people your slaves to fund your life.
You too seem to have mental health issues. I suggest therapy.

2024-07-07 08:35:06 UTC

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As for freedom, the freedoms I had in America where not the ones I wanted: to own a gun, to die in the street if I ran out of money, to emit hate speech.
Here I have the right to privacy. I have a social safety net.
I moved back to Europe for a better life, and I got it. I can't imagine ever returning to the United States, with all those miserable, angry, and unhealthy people.

2024-07-07 08:29:50 UTC

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> the socialist health care sector
As I mentioned, and you ignored, people die in the street from easily treatable medical conditions every day in the US.
I'm curious - how do you explain the greater life expectancies in Europe, compared with the United States? The fact that the suicide rate in the US is almost 50% higher than in Europe? Or that the US murder rate is over three times higher than Europe?
2/

2024-07-07 08:23:56 UTC

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> No argument against that possible
You could read what I wrote and refute it instead of spouting garbage.
GDP per capita is a terrible measure because it doesn't take into account income inequality. Bill Gates walks into a bar and suddenly everyone is a millionaire - on average.
As I said, I lived for thirty years in the US, and thirty years in Europe.
America is great if you are affluent, and terrible for everyone else.
1/