You can only do that so much before people stop trusting your currency. Up until recently, the Saudis sold oil exclusively for USD, now they’ve started selling it for other currencies including yuan.

China sells consumer goods to the US for USD. China gives that USD to the Saudis for oil. The Saudis give that USD back to the US in exchange for bombing civilians in Yemen. That’s how things have worked for the past like 50 years.

If the USD (and the US) stops being seen as reliable, then eventually the whole thing falls apart, and we’re seeing the first signs of that already. The Saudis will start telling us our bombs are too expensive and China will say the scraps of paper we give them aren’t worth it. If we’re not dropping bombs on behalf of oppressive monarchies in exchange for oil, and importing cheap goods from underpaid overseas workers, then what do we even have left, as a country?

It’s probably for the best for the world in the long term that that system falls apart (provided Americans don’t go apeshit and start WWIII, which is a big assumption), and in the very short term of course using the infinite money hack solves a lot of problems, but in the medium term, it’s gonna be rocky.

Fortunately, there aren’t any other major crises we’ve been kicking down the road for short term benefits that are going to reach a head in the near future, so we can focus excluively on that.

Expected shitlibbery from The Atlantic.

The Iranians cagily linked Netanyahu’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon to Trump’s war in the Gulf

Cagily? How tf is is “cagey” to link those two together?

I’ll go even further: every military action taken by the US or Israel in the MENA region, from the Gulf War to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan to the overthrow of the Syrian and Libyan governments to Israel’s invasion of Palestine, Lebanon, etc, all of it is linked as part of a consistent plan to subjugate the entire region by force.

The Israelis, for their part, have been left out in the cold.

When Netanyahu planned major strikes in Beirut at the beginning of June, Trump called him, swore at him, and said, “You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me.”

Good? Are you trying to turn me into an accelerationist?

No one should trust the Iranians…

No one should trust the Iranians? How about no one should trust the Americans, who launched this attack in the middle of negotiations?

The effort to claim that this war has defeated Iran’s nuclear ambitions is merely an effort to distract from the administration’s failure to achieve regime change, which was always its main goal.

No doubt the hawks at The Atlantic were jerking themselves off over the prospect of regime change from the moment the war started, but I don’t think there was ever a clear “main goal.”

Had Trump toppled the regime in Tehran, he would have had the thanks of most of the world—and congratulations from even his most dedicated critics.

Jesus fucking Christ! I wrote the previous line before I even got to this! They were, in fact, jerking off to the idea of regime change, and the only problem they have with Trump bombing schoolchildren is that he backed off! What a bunch of warmongering psychos!

They absolutely are not.

I understand that you’re not familiar with the symbol and that this is your first time encountering it. I can easily believe that a drunk soldier in the same boat wouldn’t know the difference either. But the design of the Nazi version is distinct and recognizable, if you’ve seen it. The tattoo was indisputably a totenkopf and not a pirate flag. Nobody who knows what a totenkopf is would get the two confused.

The part that I take issue with is when you go around saying that nobody knew what a totenkopf was before this and therefore all criticism about it must be in bad faith. You’re just projecting your own knowledge and experiences onto every other person on the planet. I knew what a totenkopf was years before this and my impression of the symbol has nothing to do with Platner, or like, Maine in general. Platner could be the greatest or the worst person in the world and it wouldn’t change what I think about the symbol at all. My knowledge about and impression of the totenkopf is based on it being plastered on Nazi uniforms, and used by Neo-Nazis, not a controversy over some random Senate candidate.

It’s just ridiculous that you won’t even accept the possibility that people you disagree with are just wrong, that’s not enough, they have to be actively malevolent and dishonest. Even in the most generous possible read of Platner, there are still red flags that would cause some people to have genuine concerns and doubts about him.

Because, no matter how many times you repeat “it’s just a pirate symbol!!!” (how many times in this thread?) that’s doesn’t make it true:

It’s not just a “skull and crossbones,” it’s the specific design that was used by the Nazis and is known as a hate symbol.

I don’t even think getting the tattoo is disqualifying, but the way he handled it was sus. Even if it was a stupid, drunk decision, it’s likely he figured it out at some point afterwards, and only got it covered up when it started hurting the campaign.

The part about being a Blackwater merc though, that’s pretty hard to look past. “Killer for hire turned politician.” One way or another, it’s a sad state of affairs that this is where we’re at.

The claim that WoodScientist is trying to argue is not just that he didn’t know what it meant when he got it (and that it’s fine he left it after learning about it), but also that anyone criticizing the tattoo must be disingenuous, because nobody knew what the symbol was before this controversy. In fact, lots of people knew what it was, some from that sketch, some from movies and stuff, some from keeping an eye on far-right groups, etc. If anything, the only thing I’m learning about from this controversy is just how many people don’t recognize it.

I 100% accept that people can change, but that doesn’t mean I trust them in positions of power. I don’t know what this weird parasocial thing is where I’m expected to never hold politicians accountable for anything.

The only people with obsessive knowledge of SS iconography are WW2 buffs, neonazis, and neonazi WW2 buffs.

And those of us who are high enough on their lists to spend five minutes learning to identify common symbols that indicate danger.

I think you may be the actual Nazi here.

Seriously? This is the worst thing about y’all. You simply won’t allow for the possibility that criticism is even genuine, let alone legitimate. Every single time someone raises a potential concern, it’s always, “You’re the real Nazi!” or “You’re a DNC bot!” or whatnot. As if there isn’t a single person on the planet who gets worried when a guy with a Nazi tattoo and a history as a mercenary is running for office.

You can argue that Platner is a lesser evil or whatever, but this, “If you have a problem with a totenkopf tattoo, you’re the real Nazi” shit is just straight up cult behavior.

You’re right, I misremembered it. However there have been calls for France to repay the reparations which it still has not done, and Aristide was overthrown in a foreign-backed coup after calling for that.

I support a multipolar world order, in a large part because I believe that’s what’s best for developing/non-aligned countries. Since the US has been the sole superpower and has sought to establish itself as the sole global hegemon, using military aggression to expand its influence and power, it seems pretty natural to oppose it and support competition.

If the US and China are both major powers, then non-aligned countries have the freedom to choose who they do business with, which means they have some ability to bargain for a better deal. If the US or the West were the only game in town, then you’d have to accept whatever they offer, or be shut out of the global marketplace. Furthermore, many of the natural resources of poor countries remain in the hands of the Western powers that seized them through force during colonialism (Haiti is still paying reparations to France for freeing the slaves, for example). Ending this system of neocolonialism is a priority, and that requires an alternative economic bloc.

I don’t believe that China invests abroad just out of the kindness of their hearts, however, China has expanded its power through peaceful economic development and trade. China has not been at war with anyone for decades, in contrast to the US which has waged (and is waging) multiple wars of aggression, for the sake of seizing resources. Furthermore, the West will sometimes just decide to steal the assets of poor countries that are invested in their banks, as the did with Venezuela. When has China done this?

Even if you dislike the Chinese system, I see it as a necessity that enabled other systems to survive. The West has a specific system that they want to impose on the entire world, and if you’re the only country not doing that system, you’re screwed. But China is a lot more flexible, and imposes fewer conditions on domestic policy. This in turn limits the ability of the West to impose their policies, because a country can always choose to walk.

Trump is not some outlier or momentary fluke. The roots of Trumpism go far back and there are material reasons why people support him. So long as those root causes are not addressed, you should not expect Trumpism to simply go away, and the only thing US liberals want is a return to the status quo (the same status quo that brought us Trump).

When Obama was president, the same sorts of voices existed. Trump himself entered politics by supporting the “Birther” movement (a conspiracy theory saying Obama was born in Africa and not the US). The right had a complete and total unwillingness to compromise or cooperate no matter how amiable Obama tried to be. They denounced him as some gay foreign Satan-worshipping communist, and that was while he was keeping the War in Afghanistan going, bailing out the banks, and enacting healthcare reform that was originally proposed by a Republican. This whole extreme-right media sphere developed that needed constant stories to run with, no matter was actually going on.

Before that, we had George W Bush. Bush created ICE, he tortured people, he invaded multiple countries and started decades-long wars of aggression, he enacted mass surveillance which illegally targeted not only innocent Americans but also foreigners, including heads of state.

At what point does it stop being, “When will the US go back to normal?” and start being, “When will the US finally change?” Trump is more mask off, and somewhat more unhinged and unpredictable, but most of what he’s done is just following existing trends where they’ve been heading the last 20 years or more.

You’re blaming completely the wrong people.

What if, instead of taking sick leave, a coworker just quit? Do they have a responsibility to keep working at a job they don’t like, because you’ll have more work to do? Are you going to blame every person on the planet for not applying to work at your company to lighten your workload? No, if the company increases your workload instead of just hiring someone else, that’s on the company.

Assuming you’re able to see that, then suppose a full-time employee changes to part-time. Again, if the company places more on your plate rather than finding someone else to make up the hours, that’s on them, not your coworker.

So now, we can consider if a coworker takes medical leave. All they’re doing is reducing the numbers of hours they end up working, for lower pay. How is that any different from the other two cases? If the company simply puts it on you to make up the difference, it is 0% the coworker’s fault and 100% on the company.

How can you not see how completely backwards your logic is? It’s the company making the decision to make your work more rather than bringing on more staff. This is like, if a husband beats his wife after the kid makes too much noise, and the wife blames the kid instead of the husband! Maybe your company decides to treat you worse when they’re short-staffed but that’s 100% the company’s decision to do that and it’s also 100% the company’s decision to not hire more people. You’re making huge leaps to blame your coworkers and lick the company’s boots.

I don’t sell that one, it’s only used it the circus, it’s for elephants

un-Fieris your guy

Unfortunately not, this was a long time ago. But I’m sure if you ask them they’d be happy to explain.

In terms of politics, which is mostly what I discuss on here, I once read a Cowbee post that actually made something click for me that I hadn’t understood, basically, that a socialist system should seek to nationalize industries primarily once they’ve become sufficiently developed that incentives for growth are no longer necessary or useful. Previously, my framework had been more along the lines of state-run for necessitities and private for luxuries, without consideration of the level of development, but Cowbee’s explanation clicked for me and connected the concept of enshittification to the question which transformed the way I looked at things.

Um. Other than that, for all the discussions I’ve been in, not a lot else comes to mind. I find it really difficult to have high level discussions with people I don’t already broadly agree with, because people just aren’t interested. Whenever I attempt to pose a real question, or pick people’s brains in a meaningful way, it just gets ignored. People just really like screaming at each other over the same like three topics forever, everything gets reduced to team sports, and those categorized as being on the other team get completely dismissed. Like honestly, that weird cult of “Soulism” that we have on here is at least more thought provoking and mentally stimulating that the 10,000th shouting match of “tankie!” “lib!” “tankie!” “lib!” “Genocide denier!” “Genocide enabler!” blah blah blah, it all gets so boring.

Sometimes I really miss being in school and writing essays, where I could know that someone was going to read it, think about it, and provide feedback. Trying to talk about anything high-level on here is shouting into the void. But everywhere else I know of on the internet is even worse! The only spaces where people actually engage with the sort of questions I’m interested in are spaces where everyone broadly agrees with my perspective already, which also gets boring.

Sometimes, I just need something interesting and challenging to mull over while working an understimulating job, and it’s hard to find that.

Someone is “sick” and takes FMLA. Abuses it. Comes back just long enough to reset the clock then gone again for another 12 weeks.

Oh no! Someone’s “abusing” their unpaid sick days! The horror! What are you, a cop?

I meant “off the beaten path” relative to places like Tokyo or Kyoto. Fukuoka is still a good sized city, but my experience is that most Westerners haven’t heard of it. Japan is a homogeneous country in general, so outside of big tourist destinations, you’re unlikely to just bump into another foreigner on the street, and occasionally like a little kid would stare at me in awe (I did also stand out because of my height, and found it amusing). Like I said, beautiful city, and definitely recommend it.

Do you know if the shop is still around?? I might be going for work next month, and I’d love to get some good shawarma.

Well, I got curious and did some googling. I’m pretty sure the place I went to was called Pasha and unfortunately it closed down. However, there’s actually a place that looks pretty similar (I thought maybe it was the same one at first) called Kafe Toruko that you might check out.

I think the main thing to criticize is the fact that the news picked this one random person’s grievance to platform.

Would the news do the same if a cyclist complained that a road was unsafe for cyclists? A driver being upset, while an expert disagrees, is considered newsworthy. But I’d bet that if it was a random cyclist who was upset, even if the experts agreed with them, it wouldn’t make the news.