@admitsWrongIfProven which part of us? we contain multitudes, and every institution is entangled with some of us.

i’ve come to think of independent media like independent central banks, independent of whom or what, but then quietly dependent on and influenced by whom or what, because in banking and media and life there is actually no such thing as independent.

@sliminality i can take your place!

(sorry.)

@fdr (tbf nothing at denny's actually qualifies as vegetarian. the peppers in the omelettes are fabricated from sausagestuff.)

@fdr i'm not sure it still qualifies as vegetarian, though…

@cour13r5 surely formic acid is a vitamin…

once you realize that ants are just protein, picnics become so much more enjoyable.

@carrideen 🙁 i’m a fan of paxlovid to minimize whatever injury the virus might do.

@admitsWrongIfProven my post was not intended as a backhand critique of you!

i guess i do think defenders of capitalism make those arguments in “good faith”, in the sense that they believe them, despite reasoning that may be motivated and contingent on their place in the hierarchies capitalism engenders. motivated reasoning can, usually is i think, nevertheless sincere. the best critics will be able to make those arguments as well as true proponents, and therefore account for them in critiques.

@admitsWrongIfProven probably there are more compelling justifications than “natural”. ardent capitalists claim that their creed creates prosperity and innovation uplifting us all, for example. a critic of capitalism’s exploitative nature ought to be able to express that case well, in order also to be able to critique it well.

people shouting about the imminent worthlessness of the US dollar are surprisingly interested in taking yours. just to buy more bitcoin, i suppose.

yet another trail of tears.

the poppies should all grow just as tall as each of them can.

that doesn’t mean they can grow as rich as they might like.

the mark of a good critic is a capacity to give a compelling sympathetic account of what they are ultimately critiquing.

@failedLyndonLaRouchite @mikethemadbiologist well, i usually am, so we have that in common!

@failedLyndonLaRouchite i think it's a city referendum, so if they're valid for the purpose of getting it on the ballot, they'd have to be city residents. the campaign has to expect the signatures will be scrutinized. i'd guess, for example, signers are asked to provide their within-city-address along with their signatures.

@failedLyndonLaRouchite @mikethemadbiologist i don't think he's arguing one way or another about the instrumental success of the outrage machine, although he does suggest that for the moment it is working to Fetterman's advantage.

"Georgia’s domestic terrorism law originally applied to actions intended to, or likely to, kill 10 or more people. In 2017, following a massacre of black churchgoers by a white supremacist gunman in Charleston, S.C., it was expanded to include property crimes intended to intimidate government into changing policies, although this has no obvious connection with the killings." #PhilEbersole https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2023/09/25/whats-at-stake-in-the-cop-city-protests/

"It was nothing but bullshit, disguised as rage." @mikethemadbiologist https://mikethemadbiologist.com/2023/09/26/fetterman-and-the-ancient-flute/

// a good epitaph for our age

a degree was about a day, 360 of them, give or take, in the circle of the seasons. 100F was just about body temperature. i love the sloppy little ghosts that live in our units.