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Joined 6 months ago
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Cake day: January 7th, 2024

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  • Less and less. But it’s not insignificant, especially amongst older voters.

    There’s a reason the IRA used to have a lot of resources during the troubles, even when disowned by both sides, and resources were flowing from America.

    There are a lot of Irish passport holders in America and even more who descended from the Irish.

    They were treated as “not white” for a long time too so as a community they are generally more aware of their identity than white Americans of other heritage.

    It used to be that either the pope or Irish government could simply dictate to a large voting block. That’s not the case now but there’s still plenty who will “vote for Ireland” at US elections.



  • You can’t stop a genocide with reason, to commit a genocide you have to dehumanise people, you’re beyond reason.

    The only response to genocide is materially affecting the perpetrators. The time for diplomacy stops at atrocities.

    Don’t talk to Likud’s supporters about anything. Defund and boycott the country until Likud is not in power.

    That requires speaking to the international community and especially American voters to see what effect they can have on the current president.



  • People will say it’s not the same as the other Boeing incidents.

    They’re right, it’s not.

    Unfortunately this is a new normal.

    The Federal Aviation Authority has succumbed to regulatory capture. The FAA is no longer capable of protecting American’s from poor design and build quality by American manufacturers, or from poor maintenance by American airlines

    The best way to stay safe is to do 2 things:

    1. Choose to fly on Aircraft designed and built in Europe recently, or perhaps America before 2007.

    The FAA had massive budget cuts after the financial the crisis and even though they were meant to be temporary putting the budget back has been a political football ever since. American Aircraft designed and built since those budget cuts are the problem.

    1. Choose an airline that has routes in Europe and not just domestically. That means maintenance is likely to have to comply with a better funded regulatory body in addition to the FAA.

    Do one and 2 and you’ll almost certainly be safe. Aircraft design and build will be as safe as we’d come to expect, so will the maintenance.

    I’d prioritise 1 if you can’t do both. Even though it seems bad, a well designed aircraft losing a piece like this mid flight isn’t going to bring it down. Even if it’s not good enough to catch things like this I’d expect maintenance by domestic American Airlines to still avoid a crash, even without FAA oversight being effective. If a piece falls off, redundancy or simply the fact it’s not critical to flight means the pilot will be able to simply divert and land. Delays, not deaths.

    The problem Boeing has brought in is we’re now flying modern aircraft without redundancy in key systems and structures. The FAA has allowed it. It’s the thing that’s most likely to cause fatal accidents.





  • Not everything I disagree with has to be illegal.

    Especially when there are already consequences.

    1. Rowling will face social consequences for her speech. It doesn’t have to be illegal.

    2. Problems with the law usually affect those who do things people or governments don’t like. Not with conforming behaviour.

    Clamping down on one freedom to protect another is ultimately harmful.

    Usually it’s “to protect the children” which has obviously had a negative effect on the trans community in several countries.

    In this case it’s “to protect minorities” and the actual law will punish jokes at the expense of bigots as much as bigotry.

    It’s unlikely to be prosecuted but quoting Rowling’s hate speech to draw attention to it in a negative light is just as illegal as saying it in the first place. The law is once again only helping to turn her hate into a news story where she gets cast as the victim rather than the perpetrator.


  • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-43478925

    This man trained his girlfriend’s dog to give a Nazi salute to some offensive phrases as a joke. Shared it with a few friends on social media.

    It was then leaked and the offensive joke that went viral and got 3 million views on YouTube.

    Then because of the criminal case for hate speech the EDL (English Defence League) were able to bandwagon on the news cycle and spread some real hate.

    So the law meant to prevent hate speech instead platformed a hate group and spread the original joke further to the point where it probably did cause offence. Because if you don’t know the person making the joke, you don’t know what they intend.

    All because a Scottish judge was allowed and chose to ignore all context around the actual content.

    It is a bad law.

    I’m not one of the “can’t say anything these days” crowd, and in general I think there can be limitations on speech that have a positive affect on society.

    But the law in Scotland specifically is absolutely trash in stating absolutes about speech when speech is always subjective and always surrounded by context.




  • The problem is artists often make their actual living doing basic boiler plate stuff that gets forgotten quickly.

    In graphics it’s Company logos, advertising, basic graphics for businesses.

    In writing it’s copy for websites, it’s short articles, it’s basic stuff.

    Very few artists want to do these things, they want to create the original work that might not make money at all. That work potentially being a winning lottery ticket but most often being an act of expressing themselves that doesn’t turn into a payday.

    Unfortunately AI is taking work away from artists. It can’t seem to make very good art yet but it can prevent artists who could make good art getting to the point of making it.

    It’s starving out the top end of the creative market by limiting the easy work artists could previously rely on to pay the bills whilst working on the big ideas.



  • Several people are suggesting that’s what’s happening here. Not without reason.

    They have lost their parents. They have them been removed from where they live to a location more easily controlled by Israel. Away from references to the culture Israel dislikes.

    The question about why an orphanage is a dangerous place is the question to ask when justifications for relocation are first put forward.

    Israel should ensure the location they already are is safe from their harm.