Yeap, I’m a product of an interracial marriage who is currently in an interracial marriage with someone who is openly bisexual, in the reddest state in America. I’m probably going to be pulling the rifles out of the attic for a good cleaning this weekend.

I haven’t read this book, but I’m pretty skeptical of how they define nonviolent resistance and what makes a revolution “successful”

The Iranian Revolution, 1977–1979

5. The First Palestinian Intifada, 1987–1992
6. The Philippine People Power Movement, 1983–1986
7. Why Civil Resistance Sometimes Fails: The Burmese Uprising, 1988–1990 Case Study Summary

Are the revolutions they are principally utilizing, and that makes me think this book isn’t exactly the most academically honest study around.

The Iranian revolution had battles in the streets and plenty of deadly clashes with the Shahs regime. It also led the the largest political massacre in the country’s history.

The Philippine People Power Movement

The yellow revolution funded militant groups, featured a helicopter attack on the president’s compound, and only didn’t devolve into a massacre of civilians because a marine commander refused to participate in the wholesale slaughter of tens of thousands of people.

The First Palestinian Intifada

Led to the deaths of over a thousand civilians and is a precursor the the genocide we are currently witnessing.

The Burmese Uprising

Started fairly similar to the Philippine uprising, except their military commanders were perfectly fine massacring civilians, with a death toll of 3k-10k people…

I am willing to give this a read, but I would also suggest other people read “Setting Sites” by Scott Crow as a counterpoint.

That’s an incredibly reductionist and ahistorical explanation of how the Nazis overthrew the Weimar Republic…

Not to mention incredibly dismissive to the thousands of people who were literally battling brown shirts in the streets of Berlin leading up to the burning of the reichstag .

The Nazi didn’t rise to power because people had a defeatist attitude, it’s because the Nazi murdered their opposition, were perfectly fine with intimidating voters, and were backed by corporations and a significant portion of the population who blamed socialism for the economic slump of postwar Germany.

If you truly believe this, I highly suggest reading “The Death of Democracy” by Benjamin Hett. Phone calls aren’t going to sway the opinions of someone who fundamentally doesn’t think you should be alive.

Tbf I did say it was passed after being modified to hell by special interest.

My dude… The inflation reduction act is an amended version of the build back better deal. What are you talking about?

On July 27, Manchin and Schumer announced the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the final result of these negotiations, surprising other congressional Democrats.[192] The bill, which includes provisions on tax, health care, and climate and energy spending, was introduced in the Senate as an amendment to the Build Back Better Act. On August 7, the Senate passed the bill on a 50–50 vote with Vice President Harris breaking the tie.[193] On August 12, 2022, the House passed the bill on a 220–207 vote.[194] President Biden signed it into law on August 16.[195]

Funny when it was the more neoliberal, pro-business dems that shot it down, shortly before leaving the democratic party.

Shot it down? The bill passed in 2022 after being modified to hell by special interest.

There’s really not a whole lot of corporate profits to be found in here, though

If it’s not going to be implemented directly by the state it means that it’s going to be implemented by private businesses. Those private business owners are going to walk away with the lion’s share of any money they accept from the government.

It actually raised corporate taxes, which is not a neoliberal policy position:

It’s almost like corporations aren’t a monolith of mutual aid and support. You don’t think Raytheon wouldn’t support raising some taxes if it meant they could funnel a ton of government funding towards the privatized military industrial sector?

I think the inherent problem with the build back better deal is it’s still framed within the neoliberal trickle down economics of post Regan America.

Would it have increased some workers protections and child care, sure. But it would ultimately be a gift to the shareholders and owners of corporations able to tap into the 3 trillion dollars of funding.

Americans are tired of progressive bills that vicariously improve their lives by further bribing the economic class that actually have their boots on our necks.

People are tired of seeing headlines that the American economy is doing fine while they struggle to put food on the table. Nobody cares if your bosses retirement portfolio is breaking records when they have to pull overtime to maintain the same quality of life they had 20 years ago.

disagree here. Learn the language and hang out where Japanese hang out.

I have friends who have learned the language and studied at the university of Tokyo and still have a rough time. Loneliness and isolation is a very common complaint of foreigners staying in Japan for prolonged stays.

You may have a different experience, as you married into the culture, and thus have a family there to help break the ice.

Certainly, a number of people are anti-immigration as they see an erosion of their tradition and some, the I suspect it an ever-shrinking minority, Others are mostly fine with immigration if it’s “the right kind/race of immigrants”.

How is this not conservative and insular?

I have a loving family here in my in-laws with whom I am often involved (grandpa loves writing letters). As for immigration itself, in the ~10 years I’ve been here, they’ve added new visas with quicker paths to permanent resident status. One can apply for citizenship after 5 years (though it requires renouncing all others which is why I don’t do it – I do wish they’d change that).

Again… This doesn’t really seem to be helping your assertion.

don’t know exactly what you’re referencing here. There are zainichi Koreans who are in a weird spot.

Zainichi Koreans make up the vast majority of Koreans living in Japan, with a current population of a little over a million people. And by “weird spot” you mean decades of intense discrimination, including denying them access to basic healthcare.

lot of Koreans that are here because their homes/families were in the north don’t take Japanese citizenship and, often, don’t really feel Japanese either; they feel their identity is north korean, but don’t move their either for obvious reasons. As such, they don’t take Japanese citizenship and are basically waiting to “go home”.

North Koreans make up a small minority of Koreans living in Japan. All Korean nationals were stripped of there citizenship in the 50’s, and only regained the option of applying for citizenship in the 90’s. With the predication that they would be assimilated into Japanese nationality of course.

Framing Japanese culture as conservative and insular was the polite way of saying they’re still a fascist country, run by the children of war criminals. The only difference big difference is they got their guns taken away. But, they’re still denying well documented war crimes, and funding temples built to honor people who weaponized rape on a massive scale.

Eh… Unless you are actually Japanese, you’re probably going to be hanging out with other ex-pats, or just very lonely.

Japan is an extremely conservative and insular country. They don’t really mind people visiting for the most part, but they don’t really think highly of people actually immigrating there.

There are ethnic Koreans who have lived in communities in Japan for hundreds of years who are still considered outsiders and are treated like second class citizens.

Growth doesn’t mean revenue over cost anymore, it just means number go up. The easiest way to create growth from nothing is marketing tulips to venture capital and retail investors.

I think you mean to say, my “feels” are based on justification!

Is English your second language?

Btw abortions rock, I’m responsible for my fair share,

I dont think that’s the brag you seem to think it is?

but I think using clickbaiting as a weapon is bad, even when it’s for good causes

You haven’t explained how you think this is click bait… Something doesn’t automatically become click bait, just because you think it’s over an excitable topic. That would make all headlines click bait, based on the subjectivity of the observer.

“something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest”

There’s a reason we have the Jenova Convention, after all

Lol, it’s like I’m talking to an AI that’s done way too many whippits.

The geneva convention, is an agreement pertaining to how soldiers interact with civilians during times of conflict. It has nothing to do with what we’re talking about.

Oh because it’s all just for optics.

Hey, that’s a highly reductionist take. When did super charging the military industrial complex become “just for optics”?

Without funneling billions of dollars to corporations like RTX, this would be a very wildly unamerican conflict.

But your “justification” is based on feels…

The article goes into great detail supporting the substance of the title, meaning it’s not click bait or manipulation.

You are the one attempting to manipulate people by claiming that the title is something it’s not.

Lol, you can’t confirm it’s click bait unless you read the article…

None of your critiques are valid, as the substance of the article is congruent with the messaging in the title.

You’re just being lazy.

Yeah, I could, but it’s a perfectly valid line of conversation to critique a post’s title.

I don’t think laziness is a valid line of criticism. I also find it strange to critique a title separate from its intended context.

we have the saying, “Always judge a book by its cover, and judge a response by it’s grammar”

I don’t think that’s a very common idiom. It seems to imply that pedantry is more important than substance.

Depends, but most of the time with NDA they don’t prohibit you from talking about how an accident happened. They just don’t allow you to assign liability/responsibility to the company.

The victim and the family of the victim kinda fell over themselves to make it clear that they don’t blame the company, despite the fact that they were so negligent.

To be fair, they may have signed an NDA as part of their workers comp agreement. The prosthetics he has are pretty rare to see on people, as most private and socialized insurances won’t cover microprocessing knee units.

The vast majority of the time when you see a high end powered knee unit on a guy that young, it’s because they had a workers comp case, or they got them at the Walter Reed veterans hospital.

The knee looks like a Genium x3, which alone can bill for around 100k. His prosthetic feet bill for around 10k a piece, and then there’s probably another 50k for custom sockets.

Even if he did harbor a grudge against the employer, in his position it would be difficult to rock the boat and potentially be on the hook for his acquired medical cost.

It’s unfortunate, but I’ve definitely had a patient who was successfully sued for losing their leg at work. Word to the wise, don’t get hurt on the job in Kansas.

You could always read the article…

I think now that we’ve successfully prosecuted the Jan. 6th domestic terrorists, we can put this notion to rest.

Except that the feds had their kiddy gloves on for sentencing… Out of the thousands of people there only a small percentage have caught charges that drastically change their lives, and even then not to the point of treason nor terrorism charges.

We absolutely can and should go after these nutjobs threatening federal workers.

I agree, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. Not when the person who led them is still considered appropriate for the highest position in the land to half of the electorate.

Mainly because after the pr disasters of ruby ridge and then Waco, right winged militia’s grew in numbers, basically using the events as marketing materials.

Right winged grifters love it when they are confronted, it fulfills all their fantasies about the underdog standing up to authority, and proves in their minds that they were correct the whole time.

Since the American fascist movements have legitimized news organizations that will echo their claims, it’s extremely hard to actually crack down on them without turning them into Martyrs.

The end result has been the federal government putting right winged extremists on the back burner for the last 30 years, allowing them to fester into the infection we know and hate today.