balooga's recent activity
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of February 2 in ~society
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Comment on Bethesda X Nintendo Switch 2 | Reveal trailer in ~games
balooga Link ParentI thought that was because it’s a Microsoft timed exclusive, not because it’s taking them longer to figure out the PS5 port.I thought that was because it’s a Microsoft timed exclusive, not because it’s taking them longer to figure out the PS5 port.
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Comment on Jeff Bezos orders layoffs at 'The Washington Post' in ~news
balooga Link ParentIt really is preposterous for people with such unimaginable wealth to be pinching pennies — nay, sabotaging the livelihoods of so many — instead of (heaven forfend) just spending some of that...And it's obscene for one of the wealthiest people on earth to do this.
It really is preposterous for people with such unimaginable wealth to be pinching pennies — nay, sabotaging the livelihoods of so many — instead of (heaven forfend) just spending some of that unimaginable wealth. I mean, what else is it good for? It’s money. It’s literally for spending. What’s the endgame here? The impulse of relentless self-enrichment is a crippling pathology.
When you have Bezos beaucoup, the rules of running a business change. You don’t have to make a profit anymore. You can operate at a loss for years and still be daddy warbucks. You can make people’s lives better, not worse, and still be daddy warbucks. You can actually run a business to be proud of, instead of riding the shitty train of enshittification that makes those competing, poorer institutions so fucking miserable for everybody. You can actually give a damn and do worthwhile things and be a role model to people and still be daddy warbucks.
But no. You chose shit. Just more shitty shit. You’re a shitty billionaire, Jeff.
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Comment on Bethesda X Nintendo Switch 2 | Reveal trailer in ~games
balooga Link ParentNone of their other games have really grabbed me like Skyrim did, but it still hasn’t let go. Though it’s not the perfect game, whatever that means, it’s one of the finest I’ve ever played. I keep...None of their other games have really grabbed me like Skyrim did, but it still hasn’t let go. Though it’s not the perfect game, whatever that means, it’s one of the finest I’ve ever played. I keep coming back to it and it keeps surprising me. Just an absolute master class in environmental storytelling, world building, and power fantasy. IMHO it more than deserves every release it’s gotten.
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Comment on Jim Pattison won't sell US warehouse proposed as new Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in ~society
balooga Link Parent23 warehouses. More information, including a map showing their locations, here. Somebody needs to inform the MAGA crowd that concentration camps make America nazi, not great.23 warehouses. More information, including a map showing their locations, here.
Somebody needs to inform the MAGA crowd that concentration camps make America nazi, not great.
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Comment on Are we witnessing the takeover of a country right now? in ~society
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 26 in ~society
balooga Link ParentEww, I appreciate the sharing of the disappointing context though, so thanks to both of you.Eww, I appreciate the sharing of the disappointing context though, so thanks to both of you.
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Comment on Xikipedia in ~tech
balooga Link ParentIf Wikipedia’s goal was driving engagement that would be a great way to do it… but it’s not, and I’d argue it shouldn’t be.If Wikipedia’s goal was driving engagement that would be a great way to do it… but it’s not, and I’d argue it shouldn’t be.
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Comment on Amazon’s promotion of ‘Melania’ has critics questioning its motives (Amazon has spent 35M on marketing on top of its 40M budget) in ~movies
balooga Link ParentAnd… the first review is up! 1 / 5 stars.And… the first review is up!
So, what’s the point? How does this superficial, wilfully deceitful reality readjustment serve the sociopathic ascension of Trump’s will (because everything has to)? Watching Melania get fitted for expensive clothes in gaudy rooms, or talk up how extravagantly staged she demands her balls be - and both happen a lot in Brett Ratner’s unrelentingly boring feature doc debut - only strengthen perceptions of her as a chilly, lifeless socialite wannabe.
Every one of the 104 long minutes is in the service of grandiose affectation and cruel irony; when her scripted oration contains gems like, “We are all one humanity”, and Ratner cuts to her holding her husband’s hand…I mean, really? But then, the focus pivots from Melania to the pageantry of her husband’s inauguration, and Barron Trump gradually slinks into frame, then into close-up. And I realised then what the point was - Trump is tightening his family business’ grip on the White House beyond his years and before our eyes. MELANIA is not the story of the First Lady of American politics, but the imagining of the first homeland monarch in U.S. history. This is not a film concerned at all with the America of today; it is propaganda that serves the formation of a future non-democracy.
1 / 5 stars.
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Comment on Amazon’s promotion of ‘Melania’ has critics questioning its motives (Amazon has spent 35M on marketing on top of its 40M budget) in ~movies
balooga LinkThe Rotten Tomatoes page ought to be a fun watch over the next few days 🍿The Rotten Tomatoes page ought to be a fun watch over the next few days 🍿
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 26 in ~society
balooga Link ParentThat picture at the top of the article, with the thug hiding his face behind a scarf with a skull on it…That picture at the top of the article, with the thug hiding his face behind a scarf with a skull on it…
Have you looked at our caps recently? Our caps? The badges on our caps, have you looked at them?
What? No. A bit.
They've got skulls on them.
Mm?
Have you noticed that our caps have actually got little pictures of skulls on them? …Are we the baddies?
Well, maybe they're the skulls of our enemies.
Maybe, but is that how it comes across? It doesn't say next to the skull, you know, "Yeah, we killed him but trust us, this guy was horrid."
Well, no, but I mean, what do skulls make you think of?
Death, cannibals, beheading, erm… pirates?
Pirates are fun.
I didn't say we weren't fun, but fun or not, pirates are still the baddies. I just can't think of anything good about a skull.
What about pure Aryan skull shape?
Even that is more usually depicted with the skin still on, whereas the allies—
You haven't been listening to ally propaganda. They're bound to say we're bad guys.
But they didn't get to design our uniforms and their symbols are all, you know, quite nice, stars, stripes, lions, sickles.
What's so good about a sickle?
Well, nothing.
And if there's one thing we've learnt in 1,000 miles of retreat, it's that Russian agriculture's in dire need of mechanization.
Tell me about it.
You've got to say it's better than a skull. I really can't think of anything worse as a symbol than a skull.
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Comment on FBI investigating MN Signal groups tracking US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Kash Patel says in ~society
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Comment on Minnesota proved MAGA wrong (gifted link) in ~society
balooga Link ParentI appreciate a cathartic victory lap as much as the next guy but yeah, this doesn’t change anything. I won’t be satisfied until justice is served, Nuremberg-style.I appreciate a cathartic victory lap as much as the next guy but yeah, this doesn’t change anything. I won’t be satisfied until justice is served, Nuremberg-style.
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Comment on Minnesota proved MAGA wrong (gifted link) in ~society
balooga Link ParentThis, too.The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.
No matter how many more armed men Trump sends to impose his will on the people of Minnesota, all he can do is accentuate their valor. No application of armed violence can make the men with guns as heroic as the people who choose to stand in their path with empty hands in defense of their neighbors. These agents, and the president who sent them, are no one’s heroes, no one’s saviors—just men with guns who have to hide their faces to shoot a mom in the face, and a nurse in the back.
This, too.
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Comment on Federal officers kill another citizen in Minneapolis, National Guard activated in ~society
balooga Link ParentI've observed a similar effect with Pac-Man. My kiddo has described something like that with Minecraft but I can't vouch for that one.I've observed a similar effect with Pac-Man. My kiddo has described something like that with Minecraft but I can't vouch for that one.
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Comment on Federal officers kill another citizen in Minneapolis, National Guard activated in ~society
balooga Link ParentThat seems extreme even for Trump. Not sure how MAD comes into play when a nuclear power detonates a warhead on its own people, but I’d like to think no one, however depraved, would ever authorize...That seems extreme even for Trump. Not sure how MAD comes into play when a nuclear power detonates a warhead on its own people, but I’d like to think no one, however depraved, would ever authorize that, and certainly that no personnel, having received such an order, would obey it.
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Comment on Federal officers kill another citizen in Minneapolis, National Guard activated in ~society
balooga LinkWhile we were talking about Alex Pretti yesterday, a protest of CHILDREN erupted inside the Texas concentration camp where 5yo Liam Ramos is being held. Video from an attorney on-site captures the...While we were talking about Alex Pretti yesterday, a protest of CHILDREN erupted inside the Texas concentration camp where 5yo Liam Ramos is being held.
Video from an attorney on-site captures the shouts of the children from outside the walls. This article includes more detail and an aerial photograph.
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Comment on Federal officers kill another citizen in Minneapolis, National Guard activated in ~society
balooga Link ParentThat’s a fair point. Still I wonder if Trump federalizing the National Guard to do the exact opposite of their objective under the governor would cause them to question their loyalties in any...That’s a fair point. Still I wonder if Trump federalizing the National Guard to do the exact opposite of their objective under the governor would cause them to question their loyalties in any meaningful way.
Honestly an actual civil war is feeling inevitable at this point. I’d much rather it begin with armed military factions drawing battle lines, than helpless civilians continuing to be fed into a meat grinder while the only people capable of defending them sit on their thumbs.
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Comment on Federal officers kill another citizen in Minneapolis, National Guard activated in ~society
balooga LinkSo the National Guard has been activated by Gov. Walz. WTF? The governor has limited resources at his disposal to protect the people of Minnesota against this lawlessness, and the National Guard...So the National Guard has been activated by Gov. Walz.
Gov. Tim Walz and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office requested the guard members deploy to secure the site of the shooting and the Whipple Federal Building, a known immigration authority staging area that’s become a hotspot for protesters, according to the statement.
WTF? The governor has limited resources at his disposal to protect the people of Minnesota against this lawlessness, and the National Guard is the strongest tool legally available to him. We know he speaks out against Trump and his mercenaries. So why the fuck is he directing the guard to protect the goons? Whose side is he actually on?
The unaccountable thugs murdering nonviolent legal observers in the streets are NOT the ones who need protecting right now.
Who has the power to prevent the killing of the next Alex Pretti or Renee Good? Certainly not the phone-carrying bystanders. Innocent people are going to keep dying, because this rabid dog has no leash. SOMEONE INTERVENE. Governor Walz, that starts with you pointing your National Guard in the opposite direction.
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Comment on Federal officers kill another citizen in Minneapolis, National Guard activated in ~society
balooga Link ParentYeah, holy shit, the title should be “Innocent man executed in street via macing, beating, and 10+ gunshots from U.S. immigration agents”. Anything less than that level of directness is complicity...Yeah, holy shit, the title should be “Innocent man executed in street via macing, beating, and 10+ gunshots from U.S. immigration agents”. Anything less than that level of directness is complicity with the DHS lies. There is no room for neutrality here, only factuality vs. propaganda.
I agree, apart from Epstein this is what needs to be on the lips of every American right now. As we speak, DHS is rushing through a plan to acquire 23 warehouses for conversion into concentration camps. I posted this link containing details about each of them in a comment on another thread a few days ago, but it really deserves more visibility.
The good news is, despite their efforts to keep this hush-hush, several locations have mustered enough pushback to get them to back down. Of course DHS will just be finding other acquisition targets and trying again in other towns, so vigilance will be needed at every turn.
I think we would do well to spread awareness of what’s happening as widely as we can. And don’t fall into the trap of describing these places as “internment facilities” or “processing centers” or “family detainment camps” or whatever other euphemisms are proffered to sanitize what they’re doing. They are, without being coy about it, concentration camps. If there was ever a time comparison to actual nazism was warranted, this is unreservedly it. This is not a time for pretending something else is occurring.