Geez … easy, bro.

We’re not saying you can’t enjoy it, alright! But if you start perving on the violence, don’t think we’re not gonna take notice, okay?

That’s fuckin’ nuts.

Also, this headline is bad. I thought he died. No. He just got a transplant after 100 days (whew).

This is really cool. I love how things like Wikipedia just show how weirdly f’d up our whole society is by doing something without extracting maximum compensation and breaking systems.

Yoink

This is kind of weird timing, because “No Other Land” just won an Oscar.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/09/no-other-land-film-shared-palestine-solidarity

The statement in the meme is “I’m glad electric cars are becoming more popular”.

That’s not an endorsement of car culture. I think it’s obvious to everyone here that fewer cars would be good. That’s not in conflict with the central statement.

For those wondering why it did fly that way, it was a whole thing on Twitter: weather, fly zones, mostly.

https://www.thepoke.com/2025/02/26/elon-musk-said-planes-fly-straight-line-owned-into-economy-class/

Obviously the permanent main character on Twitter popped up to assert that planes must go straight despite flying in a private jet constantly that doesn’t do that, and after a few hours the original guy said he asked the pilot when they landed (20 min ahead of schedule) and the pilot told him it was to avoid turbulence, which is likely what they say when a full answer seems like it’ll just go over folks heads.

I think he’s probably fine with losing. He could make another decade of his career podcasting as “leader of the resistance”.

I expect the GOP to attempt to block anyone with actual populist cred from trying to run in the Democratic primary, but that they’ll let through a planned loser like Newsom.

It’s our job to make sure he doesn’t get anywhere near there.

A better headline would be “Faithless Millionaire Winery Owner Adopts Fascist Campaign Strategy”

Newsom is a complete piece of shit. Everyone knows that. He is the latest in an ongoing test of the health of our democracy. My expectation is that he’s outta luck. I think that this kind of naked attempt to copy Republican culture war distractions and re-re-re-doubling down on the attempt to appeal to pro-business “moderates” is going to absolutely crash and burn if there is any candidate in the race espousing an actual plan for rebuilding the social safety net.

But hey: that’s a big if. He’s gotten this far.

Something tells me that the only thing that is going to beat Trump (who I fully expect to run again) is an actual change agent. I think he might be planning to run as a whipping boy for Trump to defeat and then milk a career as “leader of the #resistance” through this podcast grift. But I don’t want to let him get anywhere near having the chance to do that.

Hey, don’t threaten me with a good time ;)

I think that would honestly be great. One of the biggest problems I’ve seen with Democratic messaging in the last 5 years is that they repeat terms and insist that we should champion them - such as democracy - or revile them - such as authoritarianism - without recognizing an obligation to communicate what those words mean to our everyday lives. I want christian nationalists to be put in that situation:

‘You don’t understand! Solarpunk is communism!!!’

‘Well… I heard they want to give everyone food and shelter and education and healthcare for free. And build parks.’

‘Okay, yeah, but didn’t you hear me? It’s COMMUNISM!!’

‘Wait… is that what communism is? Giving me food and shelter for free?’

‘No! I mean, supposedly! But it isn’t! Look, you need to stop saying that you’d like food and shelter to be free and just agree to fear this word because I told you to! Just stop thinking fondly about living outside of capitalism! I mean it!’

I remember that. It was during a Q&A session in the fall of 2023.

I think we’re seeing an idea – or set of ideas or facet of an idea – spreading as a meme in the classical sense. For those unaware, Richard Dawkins coined the term “meme” to describe a transmissible unit of culture: an idea that takes root and gets received, repeated, imitated, and spread.

Solarpunk is a big bucket (a genre of fiction, aesthetic, style of personal fashion, lifestyle, philosophy, etc.) but I think it really is a meme spreading quickly. Fundamentally, it’s a collection of beliefs that we can live in a radically different, less commodified world of respect for nature and community. And I think people are desperate to discover that such a concept exists and has a descriptor.

What’s also interesting, for those who don’t follow him, is that Ezra Klein self describes as an obsessively self-aware overthinker. He is meticulous in the construction of his thoughts and in the precision of his language. I would go so far as to say that he probably realized with full awareness that his use of that word was likely going to introduce thousands of people to a new word, and/or unconsciously inform people who’d heard the word that it was a respectable term to use in political discussion. I think that bodes well for the direction of our culture as a whole.

I think so too. I am seeing a similar effect in a lot of places.

To second what @JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net just said, to say that cyberpunk didn’t take off as a mainstream concept is bewildering when the richest man on the planet and and emergent fascist leader overtly applies cyberpunk concepts to his entire program of world domination.

It’s like saying that the social media or school shooters never really took off as mainstream concepts. Like… I don’t know how it can get much bigger than this, dawg.

Coffeezilla (the guy in the post, for those unaware) had a quote I keep using since watching that video.

Crime is now legal

I’m a materialist, so I think digital consciousness is totally possible. But then I’m also a bit of an animist too, so maybe you’re right.

I agree overall, though. It’s so much more epistimology than actual technology, and the field seems to be half grifters and half cultists. Which doesn’t really inspire confidence that this is in any way a genuinely useful commercial venture.

You mean The People’s Republic of Korea? They’re a communist utopia, aren’t they? /S

Wait, are you serious?

I didn’t get your comment. It sounds like you think that’s been bad, but immigration in the US and Europe have been successful ways to grow population and workforce, and the biggest problem has been that exploited nativists keep radicalizing and threatening these people.

That’s a problem, but it’s not actually caused by having too many immigrants.

Kind of a weird choice. I mean, Netanyahu is right there and you went with this guy? Ok.

No offense, but that’s conspiracy nonsense.

There are plenty of real conspiracies. You don’t need to l look for the goofball ones.