People vote based on principles and strategies different from yours. Bitching about it won’t change that fact or help you win elections. Enjoy your 5 minutes of hate.

Classic DIY vs purchase problem.

Mixing thermite? I have a lazier idea.

https://www.aldonco.com/product/691-2-way-hinged-railroad-derail-for-locomotive-with-manual-sign-holder/

Did you know you can just order tools to derail locomotives?

If nothing else, at least the new Iran war will make all us Millennials feel a bit young again. Time to relisten to American Idiot, at the very least.

Or maybe I’ll just feel even older, as I can’t believe we’re still doing this shit.

I was responding specifically to your claim of there being no credible evidence of a bomb program. Whether they should have a bomb is another question entirely.

But back to the main point. Enrichment to 83.7% IS absolute proof of a nuclear weapons program. That is what you’re missing. Reactor grade is 3-5%. There are no practical applications aside from bombs that require enrichment that high. There’s literally no other reason to do it.

Nuclear enrichment is not something you just do for fun. It’s expensive and dangerous, both in terms of worker safety and geopolitics. And the cost to enrich to bomb grade is at least an order of magnitude more than what is required to enrich to reactor grade.

For those who aren’t aware, the existence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program really isn’t something that can be debated. I strongly oppose this war. In fact, I think an Iranian bomb might actually be a good thing. Could really serve to stabilize the region.

But people are taking the Iraq war metaphor way too far. Iran has undeniably had a nuclear weapons program. Now, whether the program is actually currently active? That’s a whole other question. It’s quite possible it’s been dormant, I’m not aware of what the most reliable sources say on the current state of things.

But one thing that is undeniable is that Iran has had a nuke program. The smoking gun was found in 2023. It was found by the IAEA to have enriched uranium up to 83.7%.

https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/documents/gov2023-8.pdf

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/un-report-says-uranium-particles-enriched-up-to-83-7-percent-found-in-iran

Bomb grade is 90%. Reactor grade is around 3-5%. And the enrichment process, already a logistical nightmare, becomes exponentially more difficult to do the higher the enrichment you want. Imagine the difference between a household allergy air filter and a computer chip fab clean room. Same fundamental job, completely different levels of difficulty.

There is just no reason to go to all that effort except if you want a bomb. Sure, having a domestically sourced fuel supply, all under your control, is a nice boon. But adding bomb-making capability to that boon is not just some minor add-on to a reactor enrichment plant. You’re increasing the cost by an order of magnitude at least. Beyond any doubt, Iran has at least put a lot of effort in to obtaining a nuclear weapon.

If you wanted to be the most generous to Tehran, you could argue that they were trying to position themselves in a near-breakout state. So they enrich a stockpile just right up to the edge of bomb capability, and then stop there. Don’t actually cross the line fully to bomb grade but put yourself a short bit of effort away from one. If you wanted to be the most generous to Iran, based on what we indisputably know, you could argue they paused their race to the bomb with their toes a meter shy of the finish line.

Good faith arguments can be made about the current state of Iran’s weapons program. But the existence of a nuclear bomb program is indisputable. There are no more credible sources on these matters than the IAEA. They do not fuck around. The IAEA was built to ensure compliance with nuclear nonproliferation treaties. It was built so that nation states and their paranoid military leaders would have faith on their reports. Imagine the level of credibility that requires. If the IAEA said that Iran enriched to 83.7%, you can be damn sure Iran enriched to 83.7%. They are way more credible than any national government.

Do not take the Iraq war metaphor too far. It is indisputable that Iran has poured enormous resources into producing bomb-grade material, or, at the very least, near-bomb grade material.

We found the smoking gun in 2023. They were found by the IAEA to have enriched uranium to 83.7%. And there is zero reason to enrich to this level except for weapons production.

https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/documents/gov2023-8.pdf

In terms of accessing the nuclear capabilities of nations, there is no more credible a source than the IAEA.

Well, to be fair, they were found by the IAEA to have enriched to 83.7%. That’s not US propaganda, that’s the IAEA. Bomb grade is around 90%. Reactor grade is around 3-5%. And the enrichment process is exponential. It takes far, far more effort to enrich the higher U235 concentration you get. It’s like trying to remove finer and finer impurities from a glass of water. The point being there is absolutely zero reason to enrich Uranium to those levels, unless you are aiming for a bomb. It’s an incredible amount of extra effort, a whole lot more diplomatic and political risk, all for something that is completely unnecessary for a reactor program.

Though frankly, I think we should just let them have their bomb. They would be a lot more responsible with it than Israel has been with theirs.

Seems we could use a few thousand decent people to join ICE and start exercising some of the ideally non-violent techniques found in the CIA’s civilian sabotage field manual from WW2.

“Oh shit. Sorry boss. I thought this ICE van ran on diesel fuel, not gasoline.”

“Ah crap, I left the door to the detention van unlocked and all the prisoners ran away!”

“What do you mean I’m lazy and unproductive? I’ve been at every one of our raids. Just because I didn’t apprehend anyone myself, doesn’t mean I wasn’t working.”

“Look, I’m just being thorough. It’s important to check, double check, and triple check any orders or warrants. There’s a lot of people trying to sabotage ICE right now. That’s why I always confirm our orders both in email and in person before moving forward. I would also like to hold a meeting to plan how we might establish a committee on preventing leftists from sabotaging ICE.”

Collect a paycheck, drain ICE funds, and be the most unproductive and incompetent ICE agent in history.

As another trans person, I say the best thing to do now may be to avoid the typical liberal “protest and vote” advice. Protesting simply isn’t as effective as it used to be, and voting should not be the foundation of your political activities. Voting is useful, but especially in a firmly blue or state, it’s mostly a symbolic gesture.

There are trans people in your local area who are being hurt by this administration. Forget protesting. Focus on helping the actual material needs of the community. Every blue state currently has trans refugees coming into them. Often these are young adults showing up with few resources, often ending up homeless. There’s likely a population of homeless trans kids in your own community. These are the people you should be focusing on helping right now. Join a local trans support group to help out your brothers, sisters, and siblings. If an organization doesn’t exist, start one. Things to focus on:

• Housing and access to housing

• Job assistance.

• Food and other essentials (one group in my area runs a trans specific food bank, as many trans folks have had bad experiences with church-run food pantries.

• Medical assistance. Provide recommendations to local providers. Educate people on safe DIY use. If there are local HRT homebrewers in your area, help organize distribution and mutual aid.

*Traditional gender support groups for newly transitioning folks.

• General mutual aid and emergency assistance.

Honestly, for trans people, it’s completely valid to just laser focus on the material needs of our own community right now. We’re being targeted by an organized campaign of state persecution. There’s hundreds of thousands of us that are internally displaced refugees within the borders of the US. There’s a lot of people hurting, and a lot of people in need. Protest if you want, but personally, I’ve found focusing on direct material needs and mutual aid to be a much more productive and rewarding path. The Trump regime is trying to destroy us. Simply helping your brothers, sisters, and siblings is an act of political resistance and defiance.

Your goal is not to bring down the Trump regime. That is not your responsibility. For those most targeted, simply surviving these years is your primary act of resistance. Take care of yourself, and take care of your brothers, sisters, and siblings. That is how I as a trans person have found meaning in this time. I voted, but that was only symbolic. And I’m not currently participating in protests. I’m focusing on actually directly helping people instead. Survival is resistance.

Nobody wants Iran with nukes.

Frankly, I do want Iran with nukes. Iran hasn’t declared war on anyone for over 200 years. They’re stuck in the same neighborhood as a rogue nuclear state that engages in frequent wars of expansionist conquest. The region is incredibly unstable precisely because there is no military counterbalance to Israel. Iran getting nuclear weapons would be an immense boon to peace and stability in the Middle East. I trust the Ayatollahs with nukes a lot more than I do the Israelis with them. At least the Iranians don’t believe that their deity gave them the right to annex entire nations.

Good thing we demonized all those people who pointed out Kamala’s likelihood to change nothing on Israel policy but still held their nose and voted for her anyway. Those that speak out against the Party must be denounced and purged.

I’m at the point where I think we should peacefully dissolve the Union entirely. Just grant all 50 states full independence. Let the states come back together in whatever new nation or combination of nations they want.

Look at the current state of our politics. Step back and really look at it. Every political system relies ultimately not on a constitution, but on the good faith of the people actually governing. Look at how the current president is wiping his ass with every check and balance built into the system. Words and laws don’t matter, there’s always a bad faith interpretation that can allow the president to seize more and more power. And the Supreme Court is openly giving broad sweeping authority to Republican presidents while severely curtailing the power of Democratic presidents. Bribery is legal, and both parties are completely captured by the wealthy. Oh, and every last scrap of freedom, privacy, and autonomy are being torn down in the path of an ever-expanding surveillance panopticon.

I’m sorry. But by the time your political culture decays so far to allow this level of dysfunction, there’s no saving it. Our constitution is a woefully out-of-date obsolete document that should have been scrapped generations ago. And it was made difficult to amend by people who had no idea how important amending it would later be. It was built for the compromises of the 1780s, not the compromises of the 2020s. We need to go through a new process of Constitution creation, potentially multiple such processes, and come back together based on new compromises that reflect the reality of the 21st century.

This nation cannot be saved. We need a peaceful national divorce. The alternative is likely something far worse, as we hurdle inexorably towards a second civil war.

Note: obviously there are practical difficulties with dissolving a nation. When this comes up, people love to hand wring about the national debt or how military assets will be dissolved in this kind of scenario. These are important but obvious concerns. But national myopia blinds us here. Nations have peacefully divided countless times through history. These matters are always handled through some negotiation process. American exceptionalism blinds us to our possible futures, simply because we are unwilling to look beyond our own borders for inspiration.

Biblically, this man should be stoned to death for wearing cloth made of differing fibers.

Hey Iran, if you’re listening, and you’re looking for a soft target to add to your retaliation list for the recent attack…well while you probably can’t break into the White House, something tells me Palantir’s offices are a lot less heavily defended…They also do a lot of intelligence work, so they’re a valid military target.

Drug smugglers have figured out ways to not only hide drugs inside statues, but to actually make drugs INTO statues. I remember reading about some Columbian drug gang that figured out a way to embed cocaine in a plastic in a manner that could be chemically separated once smuggled across the border. They were sending shipments of religious statues made out of cocaine. So I suppose that Cthulu statue could actually be 30% coke.

https://medium.com/@ashwinjitsingh/the-trolly-problem-utilitarianism-vs-deontology-bd624a8e321e

If one were to take a utilitarian standpoint, the means are justified by the end, which from a utilitarianist perspective, is the maximization of benefit. Hence, for a utilitarianist, whatever option guarantees the outcome of the maximum benefit is what is moral. Therefore, in the trolly case, a follower of classical utilitarianism would say that it is morally permissible to sacrifice 1 to save 5.

The deontological perspective in contrast, advocates for the means justifying the end. This, for a deontologist, the morality of the action should be based on whether the action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than being based on the consequence. In this light, a follower of deontologism would argue that it is morally impermissible to sacrifice one to save five because making the choice of having to kill someone is inherently wrong.

Again, this is the entire point of the trolley problem. No one actually give a shit about the hypothetical trolley. The whole point is to explore how different ethical systems can lead to different outcomes. There is no “right answer” to the trolley problem.

Yes, France, the country, and France, the nation also share the same name.

Whenever I see people talking like this I get white nationalist vibes.

There are different levels of bombing. This wasn’t the US assassinating a single general. This was a strike on strategic assets comparable to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. We just did a Pearl Harbor against Iran.

Has Kamala come out yet to denounce a single one of Trump’s Israel policies? Unlike a lot of other Democratic lawmakers, she has yet to publicly condemn the strike on Iran. From what evidence we can actually observe, it seems she supports the current strike. Or at least she doesn’t oppose it. There’s little reason to think she wouldn’t have ordered the exact same type of strike Trump just did. She would spin it as “being the tough cop on the international scene.”