Persecution fetish

“If you turn a new leaf, it’s the same leaf” - Kandy Muse

From Nancy Reagan to Donald Trump 😩

Usual suspects

End up? They were already there since at least almost a decade ago.

Supporters defend Roy Moore: “Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter” | Vox - https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/9/16630464/supporters-defend-roy-moore-mary-joseph

No need to be convinced by some imaginary counterfactual - historians have already established that Hitler was incompetent, lazy, and his government did the same kind of stupid shit.

Hitler was incredibly lazy. According to his aide Fritz Wiedemann, even when he was in Berlin he wouldn’t get out of bed until after 11 a.m., and wouldn’t do much before lunch other than read what the newspapers had to say about him, the press cuttings being dutifully delivered to him by Dietrich.

Hitler Was Incompetent and Lazy—and His Nazi Government Was an Absolute Clown Show | Opinion - Newsweek - https://www.newsweek.com/hitler-incompetent-lazy-nazi-government-clown-show-opinion-1408136

I like to call this the “professional” tone, because it’s exactly what those in professions like lawyers, accountants, doctors, etc do, especially if they have problematic clients.

Your job is to advise, not to actually change people. You really need to repeatedly ask them guiding questions. If they are unreceptive of authority, then you need to make them feel as if they arrived at the conclusion themselves (management consults are experts at this).

This does not mean you need to be a pushover; in fact you need to remain calm, and firm.

This is the approach that has been scientifically proven to work, most recently in convincing anti vaxxers.

How to speak to a vaccine sceptic: research reveals what works - https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01771-z

Someone in a profession with difficult clients described their job to me as basically being a babysitter for overgrown children, which I think is a very healthy way to mentally cope, process, and approach such situations.

Immich users flag Google sites as dangerous

Not sure of your specific needs, but I feel that self hosting (i.e. setting up a proper server) is unnecessary. Just pick a local first program and use it with syncthing.

The usual trio (which may be overkill) are Obsidian (admittedly not open source), Trillium, and logseq.

The timing is worse than that. The study was only released in 2014, but it used data from 1981-2002, nearly 3 decades ago.

Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

There’s laundry to do and a genocide to stop, by Vinay Krishnan

Usual suspects

USA 💀

Could American Evangelicals Spot the Antichrist? Here Are the Biblical Predictions: - Benjamin L. Corey - https://www.benjaminlcorey.com/could-american-evangelicals-spot-the-antichrist-heres-the-biblical-predictions/

Trump 79, Sparks Health Concerns With ‘Heaven’ Declaration

FTFY

Don’t even need to do that, their websites with recruitment information has such poor security that leaks happen all the time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 2/3 of the Oath Keepers are former military and/or law enforcement officers. The leak obtained by DDOSecrets included membership ID, membership type, name, physical and email address, and join date.

Inside The Pro-Trump Militant Group The Oath Keepers - The Atlantic - https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/right-wing-militias-civil-war/616473/

The database leak included such granular detail that economists have been able to study their firm-like behaviours, including running discount codes for memberships and promises of pre-order welcome packages that are never fulfilled.

Selling Violent Extremism - https://www.ucigcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2024_wp10_klinenberg_v2-FINAL.pdf

Usual suspects

It’s fun to rag on USians, but their “democracy” hasn’t been by or for the people for a long time. An exhaustive 2014 study by Princeton academics found that

“Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.”

Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

The Tragedy of the the Commons is a stupid theoretical exercise that only happens under highly unrealistic scenarios. Elinor Ostrom won the Nobel Prize in Economics for her research which provided clear empirical evidence that common shared resources could be sustainably managed, provided that the all stakeholders involved are given input in how resources are developed and shared. In particular, her research cautions against any one size fits all approach, and instead advocates for ground up, grass roots approaches.

Her study of and subsequent evidence that use and sustainable management of resources by groups of people such as unions, cooperatives, and trusts can be rational and prevent depletion are clear arguments against individualistic Capitalism where one entity has undue power and can result in ruin.

Elinor Ostrom - Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Ostrom

Not just US pedophiles either.

Ex-principal of Australian Jewish girls school convicted of sexually abusing students after extradition from Israel - CBS News - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/malka-leifer-latest-news-adass-israel-school-australia-ex-principal-sexual-abuse-girls/