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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 17th, 2023

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  • AbsentBird@lemm.eetoFuck Cars@lemmy.mlRail
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    5 days ago

    Hmm. I see the argument, but it seems to be more like an issue with pricing than a flaw with HSR. Once high speed track is in service it should be able to run plenty of trains all around the clock, I can see how it could make low speed rail seem redundant.

    I’d think it would make more sense to keep the low speed tracks and use them for freight, and also make high speed rail cheaper to ride.




  • It does matter, even if you don’t view it as significant in the broader context. Even from the perspective of starting a communist revolution, the more fascist and conservative the government, the more brutal the suppression.

    My personal position is not for one system of government over the other as much as it is for better outcomes for society. I have enough trans friends and relatives that I want as few conservative reactionaries in power as possible.

    Since it seems unlikely for capitalism to be toppled before the republican party crumbles, I still think it’s worth working towards, especially when it just takes a single piece of paperwork every couple years to help.


  • It seems to me like the two versions aren’t mutually exclusive. A better voting system that allows for more parties would undoubtedly lead to more parties winning votes, but such a reform would also run against the interests of the ruling class.

    I mean, there’s many nations with more than two parties, including progressive parties, but I don’t see a reason why that’s more in line with the ruling class there than here.

    It’s not so much about blame to my mind than it is about the way systems feed into each other.

    However you slice it, whatever prior conditions you see as most important, replacing the republican party with one left of democrats would be a huge improvement.







    1. Yes, Islam and Christianity both have a penchant for holy wars.

    2. There are many large organizations that don’t put so much effort into shielding abusers.

    3. Anyone who called out the evils of the Nazi regime was persecuted, including atheists who were often labeled ‘Russian supporters’ due to their lack of faith. ‘Godless’ communists were the first targets of Nazism.

    I think most modern anti-theists aren’t interested in forcibly converting anyone, they see the rise of atheism as inevitable. They want to remove religion from schools and public life, stop posting the ten commandments everywhere, stop putting ‘god’ on money, etc. at least that’s what I hear about.

    I don’t think anti-theists need to be advocates of forcing people to stop being religious, they can simply be opposed to theism. Like I’m opposed to the smoking of tobacco, but I’m not interested in prohibiting it, I just think it’s unhealthy and the world would be a better place if there was less of it. I think that’s how many anti-theists feel about religion. At least that’s the impression that I get from talking with them.


    1. That was the aim of some crusades, there were also the northern crusades which had the goal of slaying pagans and forcibly converting people to Christianity. Obviously not all war comes from religion, but Christianity does seem to have a penchant for interfaith violence.

    2. Not only have there been an out sized number of sex abuse scandals involving christian churches (most prominently the Catholic church) there’s been a clear pattern of retaliation, cover-ups, and defense of abusers. When there’s a scandal in a public school, the offender is fired and indicted. The church has routinely shielded offending priests, shuffling them around to avoid accountability.

    3. Nazi Germany was theistic, 98.5% of Nazis were Christians. Their belt buckles had “God is with us” inscribed on them. There has been more violence waged against theists by other theists than by anti-theists. Interfaith wars, sectarian violence, pogroms, inquisitions, forced conversions, over a thousand years of history shows clear patterns of religious violence. The USSR was anti-theistic (at least originally), and their persecution of religious people was wrong, but pretending that every anti-theist supports violent purges of the faithful is absurd. I am not an anti-theist, but I have friends who are, and they just want to be left alone.




  • How is it misrepresented?

    The Global Health Security and Biodefense unit — responsible for pandemic preparedness — was established in 2015 by Barack Obama.

    In May 2018, the team was disbanded and its head Timothy Ziemer, top White House official for leading U.S. response against a pandemic, left the Trump administration.

    Republicans have claimed it was ‘streamlining’ as opposed to elimination, since some members of the team were reassigned to other roles related to pandemic response, but the team was disbanded under the trump administration, that’s just a fact.