Random Rant Thread

[miscmisc]

So, you read the latest NYT op-ed on Elizabeth Holmes, and still tell me that I made a mistake cancelling my subscription?

Even after reading that dumbest motherfucking garbage of an op-ed?

I cancelled it as a protest, to make it clear that I can only tolerate so much. I even lived with having to catch a glimpse of the garbage out of Bret Stephens's mind often. Hell, I kept my composure even when they hired Bari Weiss.

But it's not even those specific things anymore. The odor wafting from the paper just stinks to high heaven these days.

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There is something wrong with people who think there is any "irony" in this, so, yes, there's absolutely something wrong with our press.



I don't claim to know a lot about California, but I have no idea how anyone can think "his quick, strict approach to the pandemic" could be his "perceived liabilities."

Every single goddamn poll from California shows that mask mandates are popular, strict testing protocol is popular, vaccine mandates are popular. Polls are just polls, but you can just fucking tell from random information that in California, a large majority-liberal state, Covid restrictions are very popular. It's impossible to think otherwise if your eyes are open.

The true "liabilities" of Newsom was the fact that he fucking broke the rule himself by attending a dinner party at the French Laundry. Californians kept mentioning it months after that.

I'm just appalled that such an obvious thing isn't obvious to those fools in New York and D.C.

I talk a lot about Trumpians and all the idiots in America, but please don't think that I'm unaware of the undeniable fact that a clear majority of Americans do care a lot - perhaps even too much at times - about public health, and they are absolutely for Covid restrictions.

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I seriously wonder what's wrong with those people in the press. It seems that Real America (TM) keeps evading them, and obviously that's entirely their fault.

They underestimated Trumpism five years ago, and now they are overcompensating for that by spewing nonsense like the Covid policies being Newsom's "perceived liabilities," absolutely overrating the actual influence of the MAGA crowd.

They are just idiots, I guess. "Perceived liabilities" needs to be clarified as to perceived BY FUCKING WHOM.

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You say we live in the "age of speed," but it took Alexander the Great only 12 years to conquer Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Bactria, and Mesopotamia, and then reach as far as Punjab. In the BC era where the road condition wasn't very nice, to say the least.

Or, Chuck Berry released Roll Over Beethoven in 1957, and Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band came out only 10 years later. In the Court of the Crimson King came out two years later, and there was only five years between that and Kraftwerk releasing Autobahn. And in a few years the Sex Pistols were already barking.

So, really? Are you sure about that "speed" thing?

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The vaccination rates among adults in Bulgaria is 21.7% today.

Holy shit, lol.

Man, you must hate the vaccines passionately, like for real, to achieve such a low figure in the EU environment where there's been more than ample supply of the vaccines for months now.

This is probably the biggest reputation damage fo the country since the so-called Bulgarian Connection scandal back in the 1980s, and unlike the last time, there's absolutely no one but themselves to blame. 

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I still can't get over this:

I still watch this like once a week at least. It's the pinnacle of our 2020s culture yet.

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If she had had less ego and retired in 2013 to let a younger Dem take her seat, none of these things would've happened. She acted like she had a birthright to the seat and was even offended when people suggested that maybe she should think of a bigger picture.

So, R.I.P, but screw all of this idolizing nonsense. She absolutely didn't end her career well. In fact she did catastrophically badly. 

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I've found the dumbest fucking media guy in the universe.

This excruciatingly bad "clever" writing style is the hallmark of confused libertarians, and sure enough, the entire premise of the piece screams I'm a hopelessly confused college libertarian dweeb! Like, really really loudly.

I'm so regrettably familiar with this shit, man. Because I used to be like this Aussie clown show, but hey, I hadn't even reached the drinking age yet.

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As you can guess, I personally know a few who work for Fox News, and they told me that they were aware of no one unvaccinated at the company. Zero. While Tucker Carlson keeps spewing vaccine disinformation, literally no one who's in that studio or operating the broadcast remotely is unvaccinated.

No, I'm not talking about hypocrisy. I'm saying that the whole vaccine mandate discussion is silly. Of course it works.

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I can absolutely guarantee you that every single one of those Covid-is-no-big-deal "experts" simply made a completely wrong bet, mostly because they wanted to be/appear cool, and is now simply unable to say they were wrong. Every single one.

That happens, you know. There are winners and losers with everything.

Sure, many of them still actually believe the nonsense coming out of their own mouths. But I can assure you that they have been and perhaps will forever be suppressing the little voice around the corner of their mind, saying, "Boy did we fuck up."

Their career is over. Not materially or financially, but intellectually. All of their supporters will be conspiracy-theory-ridden "intellectual weaklings" from now on.

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If someone based their decision over their own health on what Nicki Minaj tweeted about her cousin's neighbor's balls (or whatever), there's absolutely nothing you can do for that person. They would find a way through thick and thin to get sick or die no matter what you do to improve the information infrastructure in the society.

Hell, she didn't even tell you not to get vaccinated. It wasn't really anti-vaxx. Sure, I hate the "I'm just sayin'/just asking a question" genre as much as you do, but seriously if THAT stupid tweet determined someone's decision on their own fucking health, that just means that there are some kinds of dumb in this world that can never be saved by anything, anyone.

The whole thing was totally blown out of proportion.

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Keir Starmer in Britain seems like a perfect product of Centrist Dem think tanks in D.C. Pretty odious.

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It's strange that people outside Europe, Africa, and West Asia don't seem to understand the EU is actually a thing, a fucking behemoth with its own (usually confused) interest. Particularly the US. That's why they are disconcertingly nonchalant on the whole issue with France.

The US doesn't give a shit about Europe anymore, and the so-called "pivot to Asia" is real. But that can only be achieved if they understand BOTH (East) Asia and Europe. They don't. The US attitude toward Europe and the EU in particular has been absolutely schizophrenic and incoherent.

That's at the core of this issue.

[K1power]

Sept 19, 2021 6:10:10 GMT 1 miscmisc said:

If someone based their decision over their own health on what Nicki Minaj tweeted about her cousin's neighbor's balls (or whatever), there's absolutely nothing you can do for that person. They would find a way through thick and thin to get sick or die no matter what you do to improve the information infrastructure in the society.

Hell, she didn't even tell you not to get vaccinated. It wasn't really anti-vaxx. Sure, I hate the "I'm just sayin'/just asking a question" genre as much as you do, but seriously if THAT stupid tweet determined someone's decision on their own fucking health, that just means that there are some kinds of dumb in this world that can never be saved by anything, anyone.

The whole thing was totally blown out of proportion.

We've actually had a similar situation in the Netherlands last year when female rapper Famke Louise - a talentless 'artist' propelled to celebrity status by the power of YouTube - made an idiotic COVID denial post on social media.

The result was her being invited to a talkshow with a panel of experts and showing up with a handwritten piece of paper resembling Homer Simpson's BaRt iS siCk note that contained her talking points. Needless to say she made herself look incredibly stupid and as much as I think of the internet as a toxic wasteland, the memes that resulted from it were comedic gold.

Having that said, her ignorance is relatively harmless compared to an actually educated and/or intelligent (?) person giving us their hot takes. Anyone putting their trust in a stupid celebrity's nonsense is beyond help, but people with a certain title / job position have a far more dangerous level of influence that gives skeptics something to latch onto.

[miscmisc]

Sept 19, 2021 9:31:00 GMT 1 K1power said:

Having that said, her ignorance is relatively harmless compared to an actually educated and/or intelligent (?) person giving us their hot takes. Anyone putting their trust in a stupid celebrity's nonsense is beyond help, but people with a certain title / job position have a far more dangerous level of influence that gives skeptics something to latch onto.

One thing about Covid deniers is that for people who boast their "independent thinking" all the time and accuse everyone else of being "sheep," they are remarkably susceptible to credentialism. Small people, really.