what do buddhists and hindus think happens when an asteroid destroys all life on earth by [deleted] in AskSaidIt

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

A Buddhist here.

The answer to your question is that when an asteroid destroys all life on earth, an asteroid destroys all life on earth.

Don’t believe Democrats’ myths: There’s clear evidence for investigating President Biden by [deleted] in politics

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Politics used to be a subtle art. They would state a truth but slant it. Comparing the slanted truths of the two sides, one would arrive somewhere in the middle.

Those days are gone post-2001. Flagrant 100% lies. It would make things easier except it's shocking how many seemingly normal people cannot see what's staring them directly the face.

Seattle high schooler marked incorrect on quiz for saying only women can get pregnant: report by [deleted] in news

[–]StillLessons 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Public Education is now in the books as an oxymoron, alongside the classic Military Intelligence.

They are literally and actively destroying students' intelligence. What a world.

Pro-EU Donald Tusk sworn in as Poland's new prime minister - New Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government was sworn in by the president on Wednesday, the final step in a transfer of power that marks a huge change after eight years of nationalist rule. by neolib in WorldPolitics

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

A scary thought experiment:

Do we remember within the past year when Ukraine fired two missiles into Poland and promptly claimed (backed by the usual neocon / MSM lapdogs) that "Russia attacked Poland! NATO article 5!" Remember that?

The reason that fizzled quickly is that Poland came out pretty fast and said, "Uh, actually guys, those came from Ukraine..."

Would Tusk have made the same decision?

Poll shows Biden hitting record low approvals, falling behind against Trump in 2024 matchup by [deleted] in politics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

We have reached the end-point of "negative campaigning".

When I was younger, campaigning was a mix of positive and negative. Alongside the attack ads, candidates would also advertise the positive aspects of their own platform, showing the optimism of what they would achieve. Over the decades, as they discovered the attack ads on their opponents were more "effective" to getting themselves elected, campaigns went increasingly negative. Today we're basically 100% attack ads with no advertising the benefits of their own policies.

But as I say, we've reached the end-point. The theory of an attack ad is that your protection is the path to avoid the horror you demonstrate is the other guy. In the current moment, this strategy has gone radically into reverse. Running attack ads is now hurting national-level democrats. Why? Their attacks have been demonstrated to be manufactured. An attack has to be based on what the other guy actually did. The classic example is the "very fine people" attack. More and more people have gotten off their ass and actually watched Trump's comments that day many years ago. Everyone who realizes that this attack is an egregious lie is now motivated to vote for the person attacked by those attacking him.

The Democrats are having greater and greater trouble with this. The only strategy either party knows is negative campaigning at this point. They have forgotten the skills for positive campaigns. But with the amount of demonstrable lies the Democrats have used with which to attack Trump, their attacks are now increasing Trump's popularity by the day.

The dynamic has become, Democrats attack Trump -> Trump's poll numbers go up. Democrats own energy is helping Trump. The best they can do is to shut up. But given the collapse of society around us, that isn't an option either, because they are the party in power.

For the moment this works only with regards to Trump, but the more the Democrat localities continue to dissolve, this dynamic will enter the more local races as well.

If the Republicans were a true opposition party, they'd have a field day. But Republicans are equally blind to their own failure: namely they fight like hell to gain and use power over the state apparatus which their marketing claims they are against empowering. The Republican base genuinely wants to CUT government. Republican base aren't so interested in having Republican government vs Democratic government. The base wants parts of government eliminated entirely. No government there to be run by anyone. The hypocrisy of the Republicans working to take power over precisely the government their base wants to eliminate neuters their attempts at resistance to Democratic dominance of government. As evil as the Democrats are, at least their lies align with each other. They say they want more government, and they continue to campaign for more government.

Our society is burning down around us.

Senate blocks aid for Ukraine. by Dune1032 in politics

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Russia is in Syria at the invitation of the UN-recognized government of Syria. The Russians and the Syrians have been official allies for decades. The US? By your logic, the US can place troops in any country in the world they can get away with. All they need to do is identify "an enemy" and "a victim", and they're in. The particular irony with ISIS, of course, is that ISIS was the direct result of the US's prior intervention in Iraq and Libya, creating chaos in both locations that has yet to be resolved to this day. How many times does the US need to enter an area and create in it smoking ruins (Afghanistan, anyone?) before you begin to wonder whether US intervention may be, just maybe, a shitty idea? Is this thought ever going to occur to you?

Guess What Industry Dominates 2023s Top TV Advertisers? by StillLessons in propaganda

[–]StillLessons[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

What I find fascinating is that they are filling a toilet bowl that is emptying faster than they can fill it. By that I mean that pharma has lost people's trust. No matter how desperately they prime the pump with advertising [= repetition mind programming], people are daily more aware of the evil that Big Pharma has embraced. The old model assumes a neutral / positive attitude toward a product. When the attitude is as negative as the popular view of Big Pharma / Big Hostpital is in our context, these advertising blitzes just increasingly piss people off. If each ad is annoying like a mosquito, sending a swarm of mosquitos is not going to make people more positively disposed toward your product. It's going to every day increase people's consciousness and awareness of the social cancer that your products represent and make them more and more resolved to find a way to rid themselves of that cancer. The rulers of the universe don't see this dynamic, but on the ground it becomes clearer to me with each passing day. Something's gotta give.

Nashville, Tennessee - Tornado hits something that explodes.... Power goes out as tornado sucks up fire and smoke.... [video] by In-the-clouds in news

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I find tornados to be the scariest of all natural manifestations. You can see them coming, and there is nothing you can do as you wait to find out if your number is up. That kind of power forces us into the proper attitude of fear, respect and awe which is due a force beyond human comprehension, much less control.

Senate blocks aid for Ukraine. by Dune1032 in politics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

You're ignoring that Russia ≠ the Soviet Union. The end of the USSR created today's geopolitical landscape, which bears no resemblance to that of post-war until 1989. The resources of Russia are not remotely comparable to the resources of the Soviet Union plus the eastern bloc countries.

Senate blocks aid for Ukraine. by Dune1032 in politics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

First, 2020s Russia and 1930s Germany represent a false parallel. The contexts are radically different.

Second, if you want to talk about recognizing borders, the US needs to have a little conversation about its troops in Syria, which nobody ever authorized, either within the US system or outside it. The soldiers simply appeared there, fait accompli. Given the past 20 years of history, the west has zero moral high ground to talk about invading other countries for its own interests.

Senate blocks aid for Ukraine. by Dune1032 in politics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

However, if Russia conquers Ukraine, Russia will be more powerful and threaten the West.

This oversimplification of this conflict is the root of the problem. "Russia conquers Ukraine" is not remotely what's going on. "Ukraine" is yet another of the innumerable examples throughout history of political borders which do not accurately reflect the tribal reality that exists on the ground. The people in the west of Ukraine HATE the people in the east of Ukraine and vice versa. These are two mutually antagonistic tribes. The group from western Ukraine took power in 2014 from a leader who had been aligned with the eastern Ukrainian faction. The eastern Ukrainians are majority ethnic Russians (overwhelming ethnic Russian in the case of Crimea), and those ethnic Russians never accepted that transfer of power. The links between this population of Russians in Ukraine and Russians within Russia's pre-2022 borders are family links, ultra-tight. There is no Russian government that could ever ignore persecution of Russians in Ukraine or the potential that Ukraine become a sworn enemy of Russia (the baseline meaning of "joining NATO"). This is so far beyond "Vladimir Putin" as to be laughable. Russian governments going back to Gorbachev (the "western hero") have been absolutely clear on this point for decades. Ukraine CANNOT be aligned against Russia. This is existential for Russians and always has been. Zip, zilch, zero to do with Putin. No leader could claim to be Russian and take the opposing point of view.

Russia does not want to "conquer" Ukraine. Russia wants two things: first, they have made formal what has been de-facto true for longer than anyone living today remembers - i.e. the eastern provinces, being ethnic Russian and being unwilling to be ruled by a separate ethnic group based in western Ukraine, are indeed Russians. That's what the annexation of the Donbass represents. Second, western Ukraine - which is not Russian and cannot be Russian - cannot be used as a forward military base for NATO to stage hostilities against Russia. Russia has been invaded from Europe multiple times in its history (anyone remember Napoleon? WWII anyone?). Again, this is way beyond the whims of Vladimir Putin; it is deep inside the Russian national character. Ukraine not being in NATO is something the Russians are willing to fight a war over.

Russia does not want to "conquer" Ukraine. They are fighting this war because they will not offer anyone again the opportunity to invade them from the west, as long as they can help it.

The takeover of the Ukrainian state by the western faction in 2014 was a tripwire. The resulting response from Russia was ironically surprising only in that it took longer than many of us would have expected for Russia to respond emphatically. The restraint shown by Putin from 2014 to 2022 was a measure of his desperate hope that Russia would be able to form a normal trading relationship with Europe and avoid having to take the bait offered by NATO of direct conflict.

Putin is not a saint. He's the leader of a state in Russia, and Russian politics has always been highly centralized and very corrupt. He's no different. But that is actually utterly irrelevant to the dynamics I have just described. The leadership in western Ukraine is absolutely the match (and then even a little more) for corruption, venality and ignorance as anything the Russians can put forth. Of course they are. So both regimes are thoroughly corrupt. But this war is way beyond that, and the profound misunderstanding on the part of the west of the motivations of Russia here (not just Putin, RUSSIA) is central to the understanding of why more than half a million men are now dead on both sides of the line in Ukraine.

It's a tragedy of human ignorance - on both sides, and to say "It's Russia's fault!" is the perfect embodiment of that ignorance.

Why do so many people watch porn despite poorly written screenplays, bad acting, and cheesy special effects? by [deleted] in AskSaidIt

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Uh...

Is this a trick question?

Fact Check: Nikki Haley Claims She Never Said Social Media Users Must Be Identified. She said precisely that THREE WEEKS AGO. Why lie when the lie is this blatantly obvious? by StillLessons in politics

[–]StillLessons[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It just seems insanely pointless. Do they (whoever "they" are) and she believe we have reached the point that a candidate who flatly denies their own words from just weeks prior during the same campaign will become popular and get elected? People are dumbed down, but we're not that dumbed down yet. By behavior like this, she perfectly exemplifies every point Ramaswamy made regarding her known history of flagrant lies. Do the people supporting her financially really think they're going to ride this kind of behavior to the White House? Seriously?

Florida teacher beaten unconscious by 270-pound student living off donations after being put on unpaid leave by [deleted] in news

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Given that, as the article notes, he had prior battery incidents before this most famous one, this is almost the textbook definition of a "danger to society". Rehabilitation seems impossible. What to do in cases like this? Whatever it takes to keep him as far from society as possible for as long as possible.

Everyone knows that Greta Thunberg is a climate activist — but what most don’t know is that she’s also the most prominent avatar of a movement led by elites to turn climate change into a multi-trillion dollar money making enterprise. Wittingly or not, Thunberg is helping to sustain power structures. by Orangutan in politics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Those who believe Thunberg is working anything but FOR the establishment believe all the other mainstream narratives as well. Some people will believe everything they are told as long as it comes from "the authorities". There's no reaching people like this.

So, When CAN We Talk About the Disturbing, Out-of-Proportion Black-on-White Wave of Violence? by [deleted] in news

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Black people mostly commit crime against other black people and shit on their own communities.

This is the simple, obvious, elephant-in-the-room reason why BLM is total and complete bullshit. The physical insecurity blacks face comes overwhelmingly at the hands of other blacks. Until they acknowledge, address, and correct that truth, blaming whites for their problems is meaningless.

Female pool player forfeits final due to facing trans woman opponent: reports by [deleted] in news

[–]StillLessons 6 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

My guess is she's acting on principle. She doesn't want to tacitly legitimize the "male and female are just a social construct" bullshit. This is her way of saying, "No." Good for her.

OF COURSE THEY DO: Israeli lawmakers call on world to take in Gazan refugees by Oyveygoyim in WorldPolitics

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

This is about the most "official" and explicit version of ethnic cleansing I've seen put forth. Israeli government: "This land is ours. The millions of non-jews currently living here must be moved elsewhere." How is this not ethnic cleansing?

Yes, it do by Tarrock in politics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The stability of a currency is about the ability of the users to depend on it to represent roughly the same value over given time periods. What makes these coins equally unstable as any other currency is the ever-present likelihood that McDs says, "That offer is now closed," at which point the currency falls to zero. Like all currencies, it looks okay until... and... it's gone!

Taibbi: According To Pundits, "Ignorance" Makes Americans Give "Wrong" Answers To Economic Confidence Poll [ZH] by StillLessons in propaganda

[–]StillLessons[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The classic attitude of world controllers.

"Because our policies work, your observation of failure is ignorant."

If old statistics tell the wrong story, they reformulate the statistic such that it tells the story they need. They are constitutionally (as in their spiritual constitution) incapable of believing or accepting their human fallibility. Rather than allow reality to influence their decisions, they simply create a different filter to portray a vision of reality which makes it appear they were right all along.

This is the 9-5 grind where evil butters its bread.

Rapid disintegration and weakening of ice shelves in North Greenland. Millan, R., Jager, E., Mouginot, J. et al. Nat Commun 14, 6914 (2023). by ActuallyNot in environment

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Not always gradually, either. Rapid climate change events exist in the record pre-industrialization. Our world has always existed in flux.

Eric Adams had cellphones, iPad seized by FBI as part of corruption investigation: "The feds seized the devices in connection to an investigation into whether Hizzoner’s campaign colluded with the Turkish government and others to direct money into his mayoral effort, sources told The Post" by neolib in news

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This investigation arrives notably close on the heels of Adams acknowledging that national immigration policy is destroying his city. Adams: "Hey, the influx of immigrants must stop or we are fucked!" -> Adams under federal investigation. Brandon Johnson in Chicago: "Keem 'em coming!" -> no federal investigation. Hmmm.

LGBTQ+ queer tranny Americans don't want to fight for their country anymore but guess what...they are draft age and Biden is getting us into WW3. Good luck queers. by IkeConn in politics

[–]StillLessons 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

TQ+ is only half about sexuality. That half is raw confusion and delusion. The radical TQ+ types (and the ever-shrinking population of LGB and brainwashed liberals who support them) are in a war with reality and have not yet learned that this war is as un-winnable as it has always been. Much as they would like to think otherwise, modern technology has done nothing to change the fundamental binary nature of mammalian biology. Medical assault on their innate biology is a form of ritual suicide. The raw human pain leading them to these decisions is a stark reminder of the tragedy of trying to navigate this human life without a strong underlying principle to ward off the sociopaths who would lead people down paths like this one.

But the second part (at least half of it) is raw politics. These people want power, and they have been brainwashed into believing that their "identity" is their ticket to controlling those with whom they disagree. The explicit form of their political identity is hatred for the form of society that has existed for the past 1000 years. Because that society did not celebrate their negation of reality, they must dispose of it to achieve their ends.

If we put ourselves in the mind of one of these TQ+ radicals, they view the various wars the west is engaged in as the expression of this society that they loathe - because they see themselves as "the good guys" and as such the world they would create would not support war in this way.

They will instead gladly go to war against the people around them in their own country, ironically to "stop war". Rather than participate in the organized wars of the deep state, the TQ+ radicals will continue to fight the "war on the streets" we have been witnessing now for the past 8 years.

Good news, bad news: their hatred for our own society may very well require the scaling back of the empire's war projects due to lack of "useful idiots" to throw at it, as these idiots are occupied with domestic civil violence. External warfare will naturally be curtailed, but that violence will simply displace into a dissolution of the foundations for our own domestic society.

Do you still hear of people taking those barbaric COVID tests? Do you recall.... how they convinced people to ram a stick up their nose? [video] by In-the-clouds in AskSaidIt

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This seems an appropriate place to note the following proposed change to language in the regulations governing WHO involvement in national health systems (to which the US has made itself subject) - strikethrough the original text, bold is the new text:


Article 3 Principles

  1. The implementation of these Regulations shall be with full respect for the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons based on the principles of equity, inclusivity, coherence and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities of the States Parties, taking into consideration their social and economic development.

h/t Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

Let that sink in. They are now explicitly negating human dignity, rights, and fundamental freedoms. It's there in black and white.

Bodily assault on humans is entirely intentional. We are the equivalent of shit flies to these people, just elements of their experiments.

Hamas Supporters Occupy Blackrock Building - It’s Finally Happening - The ESG Monster They Created Has Come to Eat Its Creator by Questionable in politics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

We're in the midst of a massive clusterfuck.

At the same time this happens, you have people high up in BLM coming out in support of Trump.

It's mass confusion at this point. The ESG monster is simply going to eat anything it can get its claws on. The net effect will not be as optimistic as this post suggests, but at least its creators aren't going to come out unscathed. That's something.

The spirit that speaks through Obama also speaks through Vivek.... [video] by In-the-clouds in politics

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

You and I have far more in common than opposition. I absolutely recognize and know God's existence. I just think the focus on the life and figure of Jesus is a mistake. I'm not sure it's accurate, either. The way the texts of the Bible were arrived at historically leaves a lot of room for questions. I would not be surprised if Jesus did not intend to be the focus that he has become. I see Mark 10:18 "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone" as a window into a Jesus who knew that he was a man and a preacher who saw and knew God, and who did not ever pretend to be God. What he taught was correct, and sadly his teaching has been eclipsed far too often by the requirement that "either you recognize Jesus as God or you are going to Hell." The Good Samaritan is my favorite parable. Jesus could not have said more clearly that those who behave according to the ethics of God are God's children, whatever different creeds we may or may not follow.

I enjoy your posts.

Blinken in Seoul as US losing sleep over deepening Russia-North Korea ties by aamir in WorldPolitics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The Russians used to consider the US "rational actors". In that model, North Korea was considered "irrational". Now that Russia believes the US to be acting in absolute belligerence untempered by rational considerations, they appear to be re-thinking North Korea's more hardcore anti-western stance of decades. Interesting.

The spirit that speaks through Obama also speaks through Vivek.... [video] by In-the-clouds in politics

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm not a Christian, but I will hand it to you guys: the portrayal of the force of evil as "the Prince of Lies" is SPOT ON. This is precisely how evil moves in the world. If enough could see the lies in real time, evil would be helpless. Without their lies, they are literally nothing. Unfortunately, however, only a minority see through the lies in real time.

The spirit that speaks through Obama also speaks through Vivek.... [video] by In-the-clouds in politics

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I knew I sensed the same vibe, but this is a great demonstration of the specifics. Politicians are marketing products. More and more people are waking up to this reality. If either of these men actually followed up on the rhetoric they sell themselves by, what a wonderful world it would be. But when advertising IS lying (which is precisely what it is), the words they said (say) tell us nothing about the actions they took (will take). Experience says 100% of the time, IGNORE THE SALES PITCH. Their words do not reflect reality, just a vehicle to power.

West will choke on Putin's terms for Ukraine | The Duran by hfxB0oyA in WarWatch

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Russian propaganda (which I'm quite happy to include The Duran under) has been clear on two things: one, this is not about "Ukraine vs Russia" - it's about the NATO-backed western-Ukrainian Banderite regime vs the Russian-speaking population in the east supported directly since 2022 by the Russian military. Two, that the weapons supplied to the Ukrainian regime by the west would be methodically destroyed by the Russian military, in effect only prolonging the fighting and the consequent casualties. At the same time I have been hearing this from Russian propaganda, from the west I have heard countless stories about collapsing Russian morale, the Russian war machine being incompetent, Russians turning on their own (the Wagner group "coup", for example), and the "Big Offensive" that was going to break the morale of the Russians and the Russian-backed Ukrainians for once and for all, leading to regime-change in Moscow. The Russian propaganda channels, meanwhile, have stated that the Russian goal over the course of the SMO has been the complete degradation of Ukrainian military capacity to enforce their government's claim over the disputed land in the east. Now approaching two years into the more active phase of the conflict (which started in 2014), I would say the Russians are achieving their aim. Russia appears nowhere near collapse, and the Ukrainian military looks absolutely degraded and de-moralized. The Russians have never expressed any desire to occupy western Ukraine; what they have said is that they want the remaining Ukrainian state to be incapable of mounting a threat to the east. To me, it looks like they're achieving that goal.

Islam: Europeans are stupid. More extremist violence coming soon. If you disagree with me, then you are stupid. by HonkyTonky in whatever

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I don't hear your headline in what he said.

I hear the voice of a majority of the world - spoken in this case by the emirati representative - making clear that they are done with the western attitude of "We in the west know who you in your part of the world are, and we know what you need better than you do, because we are the smarter culture, and we will dictate how the world should run." For the past 10 years, this has been on display, particularly regarding Russia, Asia, and the Middle East. It's been striking in particular watching the western propaganda tell us how the Russians are about to rebel and throw out Putin, or that Iran is facing imminent rebellion from their people. Anyone noticed that these stories last a couple of weeks and then disappear? This guy is pointing out that the west is delusional in their treatment of non-western societies. Western "thought leaders" take their own outside perspective as gospel, when time and time again, events are demonstrating that the societies about which the west pontificates bear precisely zero resemblance to the story the west is telling itself about them.

That's what I hear this guy saying.

West will choke on Putin's terms for Ukraine | The Duran by hfxB0oyA in WarWatch

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Attack the messenger if you like, but I've been following them for more than a year, and now one year later, the story they were predicting a year ago fits the facts on the ground today. "Russian propaganda" is the Russian perspective on the events we watch; "Western propaganda" is the equivalent in the west. One of these two stories has been far more accurate than the other as events have unfolded. The predictions of the west from just months ago lie in a flaming dumpster fire. Maybe - just maybe - those who call the Russian perspective "pro-Putin propaganda" have been full of shit all along?

Citigroup chose Obama’s 2008 cabinet, WikiLeaks document reveals by RR_2023 in conspiracy

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is a great response.

The "and" is key. Since 2008, there has been this subset of discourse where one side says "Government is bad!" and the other side says, "Corporate leadership is bad!" Each side wants their interpretation to be dominant, as though government OR corporate elite are the dominant evil.

Your response quickly cuts through that. The answer is YES. It's all the same people. They went to the same schools, they have the same networks, they sit on the same boards. This is what true oligarchy looks like, and this is what fascism IS. The merger of state and corporate power against individual autonomy.

We are being ruled by a mafia of corrupted men and women controlled by kompromat. That includes corporate, media, and government. Anybody working for a large organization is by default suspect.

You said it in 5 words. Look at the verbal diarrhea I have spouted that doesn't touch how well you just got the point across.

West will choke on Putin's terms for Ukraine | The Duran by hfxB0oyA in WarWatch

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

The people with power in the west suffer the same short historical memory that oligarchs throughout time have suffered. In their minds, because the US / western Europe were the global imperial force for a century, they will continue to be that force going forward. They act like the big kid on the block. Only a tiny minority are ever capable of recognizing when the worm turns. The west is at this point a dying paper tiger, with challenges appearing in increasing frequency each day we turn on our news feed. Good times make weak men, and weak leaders destroy empires. A story as old as society itself.

Smoking will be banned in Britain, Charles confirms in King’s Speech by Drewski in news

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Well, if we're banning things, let's just ban underage sex too. Surely then it will go away, right?

Woke San Francisco Liberal meets reality. Amazing. by [deleted] in politics

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

If it's about nowhere to shit, why did you and I not shit in the streets when we were in SF?

You're overemphasizing the secondary problem. The primary problem is that the "social services" system which is supposed to rehabilitate people who end up on the bottom is profoundly dysfunctional.

There are two groups: the addicts and treatable mentally ill, and the mentally ill for whom treatment on an outpatient basis is ineffective. For the first group, social services needs to be re-oriented away from "affirming the person no matter what" to "having the person learn the behaviors required to live in less squalid conditions as a requisite of receiving benefits". For the second group, we need to accept that involuntary institutionalization is an unfortunate and sad necessity for these people, preferable to them imposing their unacceptable (and far too often dangerous) lifestyles upon the broader population. Them wandering the streets is not helpful for them any more than it is for the rest of us living and working around them.

Woke San Francisco Liberal meets reality. Amazing. by [deleted] in politics

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I've been a lot of places in the US - and in the world generally including genuinely poor third-world countries - where toilets are not easily accessible. It's only in a very small subset of those places where this complete level of breakdown occurs. Most places, people figure out how to work around the inconvenience without public shitting. People don't shit in front of other people. It's a powerful and near-universal social norm. While San Francisco is not alone in this, it is the only place in the US or Europe where I've seen it happen, and it's not about toilet availability; it's a segment of the population being so thoroughly de-moralized (drug addicts and mentally ill) that they've completely lost touch with social norms. Rather than bring them back within the social norms, however, the city (as several others are also doing to a lesser level - L.A., NYC, Seattle, etc) is accommodating every decline in social function so these people never have to learn responsibility. If you keep letting a subset of your population do whatever the fuck they want while giving them only 100% positive feedback, this is one of your endpoints.

The US Health-Insurance Industry is Now so Thoroughly Enshittified that the Time has Come to Flush It by GB43 in LateStageCapitalism

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The concept of "health insurance" is a scam, and has always been.

True "insurance" is designed for catastrophic loss, paid for from the pool of people who are financially solid (no loss), on the premise that when they face a catastrophic loss, they will similarly be compensated.

"Health Insurance" very quickly moved away from catastrophic plans and came to mean "Health Care Reimbursement". Given that everyone is constantly using this, there is no pool of people who are "paying" but not "receiving". Instead, this is socialism. "The Rich"tm contribute disproportionately to this system, and the "disadvantaged"tm collect. But because everyone is collecting, all the time, the socialistic baseline is disguised.

As in all such systems, the people who benefit are neither those paying, nor those receiving the service, nor those providing the service. It's the assholes "behind the curtain" managing the system who are stealing us all blind. The most convenient label for this class of people is the "Medical Industrial Complex"; it includes Big Pharma management, Big Hospitals and Hospital Network management, and of course - always, always, always - governments at all levels.

We have allowed the creation of a massive healthcare bureaucracy, and it's going to collapse completely, but until it does, there is no "fixing it" that will make a damned bit of difference.

In the meantime, finding true quality medical treatment / advice is in truth still very much an individual endeavor. Each of us much search out the best we can find, and we are fools if we believe our "Insurance Network" is our ally in this process. Remember, the treatments they are providing are to THEIR best advantage. If that coincides with our best advantage, that's great. But we cannot assume these two imperatives are aligned most of the time.

Subtitled Hitler speech has nearly 2 million views on Twitter by Mastermustard09 in whatever

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Important to clarify that he attacked The Soviet Union. That government and power structure was engaged in a major slaughter of traditional Russian culture; as such, Hitler may not have had as much trouble with "Russians" (though anti-Russian racism may have played a role as well), but more with a system that he perceived as antithetical to his more socially conservative vision of society.

From a strategic military standpoint, yeah, huge mistake. Funny how western Europeans can't seem to get out of their own way, instead underestimating the power of the Russian people again and again and again...

Woke San Francisco Liberal meets reality. Amazing. by [deleted] in politics

[–]StillLessons 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I second what ID10T says.

I live in one of the cities you mention with higher statistical violence than SF. I have a friend who used to live in SF and I visited him there. While visiting him, I personally witnessed a dude squatting and taking a dump (11 am, broad daylight) in the gutter outside the door of my friend's building. This was hardly one of the worst neighborhoods in SF. Not the top of the line, but not skid row either. "Average" SF, if you will.

Living in one of the cities you cite, I cannot think of anywhere in this city where I can find behavior like that. I've been in some very bad neighborhoods in this city, and it's sketchy as hell, no doubt. But there isn't that same level of degradation where people are crapping in the street with no human dignity remaining.

San Francisco is spiritually circling the drain. They have consistently made decisions to support and celebrate the most degraded of human behaviors, paid for by the (decreasing number of) productive people, who end up paying indirectly for the destruction of their own city.

This model doesn't work. It continues to shock me that anyone at all who possesses any sort of capital lives in these cities any more. There is clearly a personality type among humans who are absolutely incapable of recognizing when their ideals not only don't help, but are the direct cause of the increasing misery they are personally witnessing with each passing day.

This doesn't help anyone with our faith in the capacity of human beings for genuine evolution.

It's a trap! by Musky in memes

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Boy or girl is secondary. Look at those eyes. Look and make sure if you ever see a set of eyes like that, you are moving the other direction as fast as your legs will carry you. The darkness lies there...

Globalist world leaders are compromised. Whosoever has the tapes has the control. by xolotltlalo in conspiracy

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This kind of sexual kompromat is how Hoover held control for so long at FBI, leaving behind a festering sore we are still living with today. This has gone on a very long time, and as the OP is rightly inferring, it's no longer that there "is corruption in the system". It's now that the system itself has organized itself in terms of that corruption, so it would be more appropriate to say we have "organized corruption with honest people the minority exception." Representative government is six feet under at this point.

Globalist world leaders are compromised. Whosoever has the tapes has the control. by xolotltlalo in conspiracy

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

They all have tapes on each other. Part of the reason it's such a shitshow is that each member of whichever dichotomy you choose to examine has kompromat on the other. So one group doesn't have to have all the tapes, as long as all of them have enough tapes to enact revenge on some portion of their enemies. Not just a shitshow, a very chaotic shitshow.

Globalist world leaders are compromised. Whosoever has the tapes has the control. by xolotltlalo in conspiracy

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is the conclusion I am reaching as well.

There is a coordination to these acts so sublime that it surpasses the capacity of humans to enact. Until 5 years ago, I didn't believe in Satan. Looking at the past five years and the literally millions of people who have behaved in ways that are explicitly evil (at all levels of society), I cannot explain that except as the dark force in the universe (which exists - as the old saying goes - right down the center of the human heart) making a massive play for dominance.

That force hasn't won, but the destruction it's leaving in its wake is beyond the imagination of any single human or even any group of humans. This is a spiritual wasteland, and only the embodiment of spiritual evil could be capable of such a coordinated attack.

The Feds have terrorized small states into making driver's licenses and ID's less accessible by jerryk in politics

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Just another in the legion of examples in today's world of the massive grab for CONTROL and CENTRALIZATION OF POWER by the very small group of people (thousands globally) who believe themselves capable of and responsible for running the world. We will travel or work or eat when they say we can and in the way they say we can, or we will not do it at all. They are quite explicit about it at this point.

DO NOT COMPLY. This is the only way out. More and more people are catching on, and the scales will tip eventually. When they do, there will be chaos. But that chaos is the price of individual sovereignty, which is the only legitimate sovereignty in the universe. The "world controllers" always fail, but the damage they do in the meantime is brutal, every single time.

Math question by SkankyDick in whatever

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

1.618034

Why?

Scott Ritter: Scholz and Baerbock are destroying Germany (dual language) - Gegenpol by zyxzevn in WorldPolitics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Ritter is a very angry dude.

Dianne Feinstein dies. by Dune1032 in politics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Feinstein has been cognitively dead for quite some time. She is not alone in this. The number of people who are clearly cognitively incompetent (more than one elected after full evidence of their incompetence is very publicly available) is telling as to where our "elite" stand on the curve of empire. Hint: the empire stopped growing decades ago.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman was caught on camera pulling the Cannon fire alarm ahead of this motion to adjourn vote as Dems tried to delay the CR vote. by [deleted] in politics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Are there enough adults remaining in our society to recognize how unacceptably pathetic our "politicians" have become? This is a wonderful and very concrete example of the level of "consideration" of which these literal morons are capable.

DC’s national cathedral removes stained-glass windows honoring Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, replaces them with BLM eyesores. by Musky in pics

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

If you're looking for God, that building is not the place to go.

Ukrainian children as young as 4 months old are being forcibly taken to Russia. Officials don't know what is happening to them. by ActuallyNot in news

[–]StillLessons 6 insightful - 3 fun6 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Funny how themes repeat themselves. When Saddam was the enemy it was the babies in the incubators. Those bad guys sure are bad! Trust us...

Biden says he has no concerns about McConnell’s health after speaking to him by Drewski in NotTheOnion

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The absurdity of the current global power structure is beyond belief.

New British government data showing mRNA vaccinated dying 52% more than unvaccinated - aka 1.5x accelerated death rate - global public health disaster by magnora7 in news

[–]StillLessons 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Many of those who are now considered by the establishment to be the most evil demons (Robert Malone and Peter McCullough come to mind) initially supported the vaccines and/or took the jabs themselves. Part of Malone's story is his own adverse event. Many people who used to trust "the system" got very badly burned by the events of 2020/21 and are among its most ardent enemies now because of the direct harms they received in return for their trust. Those of us who were already suspicious in mid-2020 were small in number; we could see the same patterns repeated through decades of this kind of crap and were already aware of it. But before these events, I treated even my own ideas with caution. "Conspiracy Theory" was a much more plausible label in 2020. By the end of 2020, the label ceased to have any humor in it at all. All truth entered "conspiracy" and the only "information" remaining was lies. The 1984-ization of modern discourse was complete, and we have lived in this model now for the past 4 years.

New British government data showing mRNA vaccinated dying 52% more than unvaccinated - aka 1.5x accelerated death rate - global public health disaster by magnora7 in news

[–]StillLessons 12 insightful - 2 fun12 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I started speaking out in my RL circle in Spring 2021. The reactions are terrifying. People don't argue back. They provide nothing in response. They just ignore what you say and write you out of whatever activities they are involved in. This was never about data. It's about mind control, and our side doesn't have remotely the tools or skills the other side has. The braindead have "the system" at their back, and that is not something they will give up no matter what is happening in reality. It's systemic suicide at a scale that is shocking.

New British government data showing mRNA vaccinated dying 52% more than unvaccinated - aka 1.5x accelerated death rate - global public health disaster by magnora7 in news

[–]StillLessons 6 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Ah, yes, Wikipedia. That oh-so-neutral repository of basic knowledge. /s

Why does nobody talk about the domestic violence rate among lesbians? by zherka in whatever

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This fits in the same category of Hillary Clinton and her braindead followers saying, "We need a female president so compassion will be represented." There has never been a more obvious lie told in the world (many equally obvious, but none more so). For Clinton, known for her love of bloodthirsty suggestions while at State, to be equating electing her with compassion is a whopper. And this is why the whole caricature of women that the lunatic feminists (there are many different forms of "feminism" at this point, some sane, some like this) are proposing is a completely dead letter. They are pretending to be precisely the opposite of what they are. This particular brand of feminist is in reality violent, jealous, petty, and stupid, and they get all the press. It appears to me that they are now - finally - in decline. Fading into mocked obscurity couldn't happen to a nicer group of morons.

Firms pull ads from Rumble platform over Russell Brand videos by [deleted] in censorship

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

And the divide continues. People who watch Rumble will become the people who don't go to places like Burger King. As that divide grows, more and more people will consciously divide themselves out of the fascist system that Burger King et al represent. Then one of two things happens: the fascist system crushes them or they create a successful rebellion and the system falls.

Do you think Hitler was a bad guy or a good guy? by zherka in AskSaidIt

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Let's bring this into today's context.

Do we think Putin is a bad guy or a good guy?

Do we think Xi is a bad guy or a good guy?

Do we think Biden is a bad guy or a good guy?

Do we think Trump is a bad guy or a good guy?

All these questions suffer from the same problematic premise. Unless we have direct contact with one of these men (rare), we have no clue who they actually are or were. All we have is reporting about them. "History" is written by the winners; it's been true since the beginning of the universe. The current moment we have is equally filtered by middlemen.

We take opinions that others have about a person and adopt those as our own.

I am confident that Hitler was not "Hitler". The amount of propaganda value that "Hitler" has is beyond measure. As such, the persona attached to the man has become mythological. Take all the evil we have experienced any individual capable of, and that is now summed up as "Hitler". He was a politician and the leader of a powerful movement. That makes it likely he was a royal asshole. But any more of an asshole than all the other politicians and leaders of powerful movements? (Looking at FDR and Churchill here). Seems unlikely to me. The difference is he lost, they won.

The truth has very little to do either with history or with our current moment. It's always been so. Money talks and bullshit walks.

The cities are dying. Crime is so bad in DC that Congress is distributing tips to avoid being carjacked in capital by P-38lightning in news

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The United States had our version of a "cultural revolution" in the 1960s. It was more subtle than that of China, but laid roots that are now being harvested. The hippie ethic of "Sex, Drugs, and Rock&Roll" was based on "if it feels good in the moment, then it is good; ethics requiring discipline and delayed gratification are archaic and may now be safely relegated to the past." The "lessons" of this philosophy have been particularly dominant among elite university students for the past 50 years.

And here we are.

Chicago's Mayor wants to create city run grocery stores after the chain stores closed due to heavy theft. Cops will bag the groceries and act as doormen. by IkeConn in politics

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

State-run necessities is the communist model. I usually shy away from using the word "communism" (having witnessed it directly in the Soviet Union when I was younger), but this is an exception. It's actually almost textbook: the state taxes its citizens and then runs the provision of necessities to those citizens according to the plans of political committees.

Multiple experiences of this in the 20th century leave zero room for debate: it doesn't work. If Chicago goes this route, its nosedive into oblivion will accelerate accordingly.

Chicago has no grocery stores? by SueBoyle in whatever

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

State-run necessities is the communist model. I usually shy away from using the word "communism" (having witnessed it directly in the Soviet Union when I was younger), but this is an exception. It's actually almost textbook: the state taxes its citizens and then runs the provision of necessities to those citizens according to the plans of political committees.

Multiple experiences of this in the 20th century leave zero room for debate: it doesn't work. If Chicago goes this route, its nosedive into oblivion will accelerate accordingly.

The FBI had so many paid informants at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, that they lost track of the number and had to perform a later audit to determine exactly how many "Confidential Human Sources" run by different FBI field offices were present that day. by Chipit in news

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The "Maidan Moment" in the USA. Few enough realize that the Maidan "revolution" was also a natural protest false-flagged into violence by the same forces who did it here on J6. Same playbook. They're damned good at it, as a matter of fact.

Something about this story does not add up. Why did the pilot punch out of a perfectly good jet that still flew on autopilot another 70 miles? How was his life in imminent danger? From what? Any ideas? by thomastheglassexpert in AskSaidIt

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

From the preliminary chatter I've seen, they are talking about the plane being "hacked". If a third party gained control over the operational software of the aircraft, suddenly the pilot no longer has control. The plane maybe started performing maneuvers he could not control and could not stop. It wouldn't take too many minutes of this kind of stress before anyone would conclude this was a life threatening situation, to be in an airplane of which they no longer had control. Thus the bail. I know less than nothing about this, but this is my rank speculation on the theory of piloting a "hacked" aircraft mid-flight.

The fact that Democrats responded with visceral dislike to a song (Rich Men North of Richmond by Oliver Anthony) that expressed the complicated populist views of an actual working-class person shows how unwelcoming the party has become to actual working-class people by Chipit in politics

[–]StillLessons 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

The basis of their dislike is pretty straightforward. To acknowledge that his perspective is valid would be to admit that they recognize they are controlled and are okay with that. They cannot admit that they are happy living as controlled units in a totalitarian machine.

"Other than this one key fact that the rape described actually was a fabrication of this woman, the rest of the story was bulletproof" by jet199 in NotTheOnion

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah...

I do have this problem. Sometimes my brain gets somewhat "out there" and what I say goes from mostly useless to entirely WTF. It's a known issue.

"Other than this one key fact that the rape described actually was a fabrication of this woman, the rest of the story was bulletproof" by jet199 in NotTheOnion

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Son of a bitch, I had to go read through to see that quote in context. Wow.

What a fantastic illustration of the mindset of these "people". I use the term loosely, because this level of raw delusion makes one question their humanity.

In this case, Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone fame. He has just described the perfect tool to justify lies of all flavors. You state the lie, and then claim that all of your conclusions based upon that foundational lie are solid; just ignore that they are constructed in support of a lie.

How this machine continues to function is mysterious to me. You'd think this level of disconnect from the solidity of reality would be unsustainable as a natural system and would collapse into chaos. That it hasn't leads to all sorts of deep existential questions.

Elon Musk says the Request to Turn on Starlink in Crimea Came from the Ukrainian Government in the Middle of the Night "We figured out that this was kind of like a Pearl Harbor like attack...So they really asked us to proactively take part in a major act of war" by xolotltlalo in conspiracy

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Zelensky can hardly be considered "an independent actor", when he is forever operating under the full knowledge that if he "betrays" the Banderites, they will kill him. Not politically, literally. Either he obeys what these lunatics want, or they will put a bullet in him. To say he's doing what's best for his country, one would have to assume that what's best for the Banderites is in the best interests of Ukraine. That's a very questionable premise.

I hate that tall people and attractive people automatically get to live life on easy mode. by Mcheetah in whatever

[–]StillLessons 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Life's not fair and it never has been. The question is never how to stop bad things happening to us; that's impossible, against the laws of the universe. The only important question for each of us is how are we going to live our life in this asylum? How are we going to respond? That's the measure of character.

9/11 - 7 World Trade Center. (WTC 7 Free Fall Collapse) by IlluvitarG4 in conspiracy

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Think a second about the meaning of "free fall". Free fall velocity is the speed an object falls to earth in the absence of any upward force aside from air friction. In other words, a penny dropped from a height will reach "free fall velocity" which is the velocity which balances the force of gravity (downward) and the force of air friction (upward).

The reason this makes no sense in the context of an intact building falling is that there are significant upward forces being exerted against the top section falling downward. Every time a floor hits the floor below it, there is a counteracting force moving upward into the falling piece, slowing it down. It might still continue to fall, but it would not be able to do so at anything remotely approaching free fall.

The only way you could approach free fall velocity is if there is nothing counteracting gravity aside from air friction. In other words, where did all the upward forces that are exerted by the frame of the building (how buildings stand up in the first place) go? What happened to the steel beams to allow the collapse to occur so rapidly? The forces involved from the airplane impacts followed simply by gravity are not remotely sufficient to explain the collapse as witnessed.

That's the problem.

I have a dream that one day there will be zero trannies ever again. by Vulptex in whatever

[–]StillLessons 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Great comment.

It's not that people on the fringes should not exist. People on the fringes of society have existed for the entire history of humanity, and societies figure out better or worse ways of handling that.

What has so many of us so pissed off is the use of force to declare the fringe to be the mainstream and the resultant punishment of the traditional majority to mandate not just acceptance of but obedience to the fucked up thinking these people are expressing.

I have said for years this is a mental illness. I have great sympathy for those with mental illness. I want them to learn to be happy. But this crew doesn't want to learn to be happy among their peers. They want society to obey them. Their endpoint is that their fucked up thinking is the norm. No fucking way. I'm sorry they think in a way that makes them miserable and I wish them the best speed at figuring out how to escape that thinking. But enforcing their own fucked up ideology on to others is both radically stupid and radically evil. It's stupid because even if it works, the people working so hard to become the enforced ideological center are going to remain miserable. Guaranteed. Fighting reality will do that to you.

Google is suppressing the 2024 campaign websites of all serious challengers to Democratic incumbent President Joe Biden by [deleted] in politics

[–]StillLessons 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

More "good guys, bad guys" thinking.

RT is Russian propaganda. No shit. They aren't trying to hide it, and they never have.

The key is the willingness to read their propaganda, then read our propaganda (NYT, WaPo, NPR, MSM, etc) and work to figure out what's going on. The idea that Russians have propaganda and we have "news" has been thoroughly destroyed in the past 8 years. You want disinformation? 50+ US intelligence operatives sign a letter in 2020 declaring that Hunter Biden's laptop is "Russian Disinformation". In case you haven't heard, Hunter Biden himself acknowledged the laptop was his earlier this year.

The point is not that Russian sources are right and those in the US are wrong, rather that naming one "disinformation" without pointing out that both are propaganda organs (Google and RT) is disingenuous, to put it mildly.

Leading transplant expert says her team could put wombs in TRANS WOMEN by EternalSunset in NotTheOnion

[–]StillLessons 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The Hippocratic Oath lies in tatters...

COVID Victims' Families Sue EcoHealth Alliance For 'Funding, Releasing' Virus by StillLessons in conspiracy

[–]StillLessons[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Under the terms of the grant, EcoHealth Alliance, a government-funded nonprofit that purportedly engages in research to prevent pandemics...

Here's the nub of it. Read between the lines, and we are looking at this group of people suing the biological subbranch of the MIC. This has been biological weapons research from the beginning. To get them to admit this? We know it, but I am highly skeptical we will ever see proof.

Roseanne Barr on Race [in response to Piers Morgan saying "Zelensky himself is jewish, so obviously he, de-facto, is not a Nazi."] by StillLessons in quotes

[–]StillLessons[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Roseanne Barr is jewish.

Not only is she jewish, she is of Ukrainian descent, with several family members having been killed in Ukraine by the Nazis of the Bandera generation. She knows "the type" when she sees them.

Now two judges claim a jury ruled "implicitly" that Trump raped that mentally ill lady 20 years ago, but the jury weren't even asked that, due to bad jury instructions by SoCo in politics

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Both the Law and Medicine - two of the foundations underpinning any highly-developed civilization, such as western civ - are in steep decline philosophically speaking. Logic and reason are out the window, now deeply subordinate in practice to passion and emotion. A society run by passion and emotion will not survive long; we are witnessing the dissolution of the latest attempt by people on Earth to sustain a complex society.

Here’s 60 Straight Seconds Of Democrat Leaders Calling For An Uprising & The Assassination of Donald Trump (No FBI Raids, No Indictments) by [deleted] in politics

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's the Two-Minute Hate. I thought it was a metaphor until now we see it in real time.

Dems across the country defecting to GOP: 'Democratic party has become unrecognizable' by [deleted] in politics

[–]StillLessons 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The limousine liberals took over the party and completely divorced it from representing anyone but the elites and the mentally-ill dregs. That's one hell of a barbell and completely unstable. It's cracking.

Pfizer-tells-Senator-Pauline-Hanson-Nobody-was-forced-to-take-vaccines-in-Australia by Tom_Bombadil in WorldNews

[–]StillLessons 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Gaslighting. It's what's for dinner.

Fat Warpig Bitch by Tarrock in politics

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

China and Japan were also exploited by the west in the end of the 19th century. They figured it out and look where they are now. Fool me once, etc.

Leftists Hate Free Speech Because They Fear Dissent, Not 'Disinformation' by Goingoutforawalk in Movies

[–]StillLessons 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/washington-posts-feared-pinocchio-fact-checker-forthrightness-dies-updates-biden-burisma

They are explicitly lying. This is the problem. The people claiming to "safeguard truth" have all along been the liars. They are thoroughly and completely destroying trust in the institutions in which we were - until 2008 - mutually engaged. The "truth police" are themselves the liars.

It has always been thus. This is why censorship is always the tell-tale for authoritarian / totalitarian government.

If the "authority" tells you to hurt your neighbor, would you do it? Like this.... [video] by In-the-clouds in AskSaidIt

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

A very illuminating experiment. This is actually just about a perfect setup. What they are identifying precisely is the line in people's mind where they are controlled by imagined scenarios. These people's minds confuse the story told about the man with reality. They are willing to do what they do because in their minds, the "criminal" is already guilty of whatever the crime the guy with the stick accuses him of. They need no more proof than being told so. People believe stories so easily, and they act, taking their imagined reality and using it to justify real-world action, thereby now actually creating reality from their imaginations.

This is a great demonstration of how humanity has been controlled since the beginning of history.

Russia Has Eliminated 400,000 Soldiers Thus Far - Douglas Macgregor by zyxzevn in Antiwar

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I was in Russia in 2019. Granted, I was only in the touristy large cities, but what struck me from traveling there was the complete and utter lack of difference between people's lives there and the lives of their equivalents in the west. I speak enough Russian to get around, and people basically go about their lives, just like we do here. We are all pissed that "the government" does what it does, and we do our best to stay out of the way. I also have known several Russians over the years, both in Russia and outside. Talking to them, I don't see the difference you are suggesting.

Russia Has Eliminated 400,000 Soldiers Thus Far - Douglas Macgregor by zyxzevn in Antiwar

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

from a western interest perspective

Precisely. "Western Interests". In other words, the western mafia wants to grow. Now we find out if that will happen or if the Russian mafia is strong enough to stop their plans. Time will tell.

Russia Has Eliminated 400,000 Soldiers Thus Far - Douglas Macgregor by zyxzevn in Antiwar

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's been the story the MSM has been selling since February, 2022. I have heard zero change in that story for the past year and a half. The picture you are describing, however, doesn't fit the political / economic position Russia (Putin's regime) currently occupies or how events have changed during that time.

I am often accused of being a "Putin apologist". Actually, I view Putin the same way I view any politician. He is the mafia boss of the mafia of his country, a.k.a. their government. The place we differ is that I see us looking at two mafias fighting over turf. Ukraine has been "Russian turf" for centuries. Peeling Ukraine away from Russian influence is a radical re-write of global political alignment. And I have zero illusions that the people on the west have any moral standing from which to judge Russia's mafia. The west is equally corrupt as the Russians (they hid their corruption better, though that veil is failing; the magnitude is totally equal); the Ukrainian oligarchs are in a league of their own, with lovely strains of explicit original-strain Naziism running through it.

There are no good guys here. The reason I argue for the Russian position is that it is more stable. Ukraine under Russian influence has been a stable part of the global map for centuries. Ideal? Of course not. Tons of corruption, very ugly.

But the current situation is even worse. We didn't need to stir this hornets nest.

Russia Has Eliminated 400,000 Soldiers Thus Far - Douglas Macgregor by zyxzevn in Antiwar

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is the fundamental question at the center of the war: when did it start? Russia invaded to finish a war that started in 2014. Nuland's tape tells us the US planned the government that took over in that year. The eastern area of Ukraine refused to accept the authority of the new government. "Ukraine" has had this divide running through it for decades. Eastern Ukraine and Western Ukraine are not the same people. The US has been working with the factions in western Ukraine for decades, back into USSR times. Watching what has happened since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the imperial nature of the western political economy is evident. Empires either grow or they die. They have pushed east for thirty years, and for thirty years, the Russians were quite clear that Ukraine was too close for them to tolerate. Yes, in 2022 Russia attacked the current government in Ukraine, but to suggest the west didn't know this precise result would occur when they set up their government in Kiev is naive. The west wants this war; they have chosen this path. Now we find out if they have the power to expand the next step.

Racism by Death_By_Democracy in AskSaidIt

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think you're correct here. In the three years I've been on this site, it is essentially irrelevant to the broader societal discussions going on. But those of us here do exist (aside from the massive number of trolls - like everywhere on the internet - there are a small number of actual recognizable people on here), and nuggets of useful information keep on popping up regularly. We're basically irrelevant, but at the same time, we haven't gone away, either. The views here maintain our very tenuous toehold within the societal map.

Racism by Death_By_Democracy in AskSaidIt

[–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The internet is what it is. The best we can do is ignore the mindless junk that floats around and try to engage with people who are actually saying something. Censorship is absolutely not the answer, because nobody is sufficiently wise to know the correct line at which to engage the red pen. It always - every time - ends up representing straight up political repression. The idea of just stopping "misinformation" is itself propaganda and has been used by every propaganda apparatus throughout history. It is as old as large-scale civilizations themselves.

Racism by Death_By_Democracy in AskSaidIt

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes. While the effect might have happened anyway with the European settlers carrying new strains, it is well documented that the Europeans were completely aware of the disease issue, and were intentionally using smallpox in particular as the biological weapon of its day, to the greatest extent they could figure out how to contrive.

Again, this might have happened whether they tried to do it or not, but to highlight "accidentally" the way Musky has is incorrect. At least some portion of the disease spread was absolutely intentional.

Leftist Democrat Mayor sentenced to 30 years for kiddie porn by [deleted] in news

[–]StillLessons 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I remember when I was younger (30 years ago), the strong majority of these cases involved republican conservative Christian aligned politicians. Lately, the majority involve liberal democratic politicians. What changed? 30 years ago, conservative Christianity was still the dominant social philosophy, and their politicians wielded real power. Now, liberal Democratic ideals are the institutionally dominant philosophy by a long shot. They control the government, the educational institutions, the religious institutions, and the corporate world. Power corrupts, and it is always the powerful who end up being the people like the example here.

Racism by Death_By_Democracy in AskSaidIt

[–]StillLessons 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Civilizations have been wiping out other civilizations since the beginning of humanity. This is not a new phenomenon and it is not unique to the west.

Your question is absolutely right on target. Is it beneficial for either the "winners" or the "losers" for two distinct groups to be forced to live among each other?

On a more personal note, I - as an individual - am genuinely color-blind. With regards to any individual with whom I come in contact, I judge that individual based on the interaction we have. If a group looks dangerous, I stay away, whatever their color or creed. I've seen dangerous-looking groups of young white men; I've seen dangerous-looking groups of young black men. As a white man, I fear the black groups more, because angry black men are more likely to direct their anger on me simply for my race than are the white men. That dynamic works both ways, of course. Black men feel more nervous around groups of dangerous white men.

I repeat my original theme: is the "melting pot" actually the most harmonious way to design a society, or would it make more sense to acknowledge genuine differences among races and ethnicities, allowing different societies to form independently from each other, each following the traditions and capabilities of its homogeneous group?

And would such an idea even be possible or is it logistically simply never going to happen because peoples interbreed, and to think otherwise is simply a waste of time?