• 11 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • I’ve been wondering the same thing and haven’t seen reporting yet on who the victims are or their families. I figure there’s a decent chance that they are running drugs. Or, at least some of them are.

    That being said, I’d totally run drugs if it was the only way to feed my family or they were being threatened. Just like the labor that farms coca, low level workers are mostly ethically blameless in my view.

    That shit has to be terrifying, going out in a little boat knowing a military ship may blow you up. Their poor families have to live with the fear as well. Even worse is if they’re doing it under threat.

    It’s the whole Pablo Escobar thing, I could give a fuck less if he gets whacked. However, that doesn’t mean some family trying to survive on subsistence farming and growing coca for extra cash deaerves a hellfire missle.















  • There really is no one in control. Not really. There are people and groups with spheres of influence and power. I wish there was an evil illuminati out there in control of things, at least it would be organized.

    Best I can figure, most everyone is faking it. I’ve spent time with CEOs, military officers, rich people, big time evangelists. They’re mostly faking it, some even feel imposter syndrome like normal people do.

    This isn’t to say that they don’t perpetrate great evil, but they’re also not superhuman or super intelligent. Many of them are of average intelligence at best. They’re just lucky or lack morals as we know them, reframing their moral system to excuse their actions. Everyone is the hero of their own story even when they are corrupt to the core. Hitler was a dog lover and vegetarian.

    All this to say, there is no silver bullet for cancer. There is no magic carburator invented in the '70s that gets 100mpg. There is no over unity generator that will provide free power. Somebody would steal those secrets and sell them for millions.

    I half expect that the insurance companies will run the numbers on end of life costs and maintenance costs of disability and still cover the standard schedule of vaccines. Deaths/crippling get expensive enough and they may even require vaccinations to keep insurance.

    The wingnuts in question here likely believe the antivaxx shit, or see enough politcal advantage in parroting it that it has resulted in this. In some sense, the GOP has been too successful, now they are married to the lunatic fringe and have members from that fringe. They’re stuck on this ride as well. Hope they choke on it.


  • His ideas are fantastic. Execution and characterization are spotty. Been a while since I read anything of his, but IIRC, he has a tendency to dip into surrealism or absurdity that feels cringey instead of his artistic target.

    In some ways, it’s similar to a lot of Golden Era SF. You read it for the ideas, not the story.

    I do have a favorable opinion of him and his work. I’d really enjoy Doctorow being paired with a traditional fiction author and both being rode herd by a hardass SF editor.