Awkwardly_Frank @ Awkwardly_Frank @lemmy.world

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2 yr. ago

“It’s been very cathartic making my mental health troubles everyone else’s problem” says man who can afford to pay an entire team to listen to his unhinged rants if he wants.

Worryingly we may all be both types. The problem is that we’re typically the first when the new information aligns with the world as we think we understand it, and the second when it conflicts. Information that calls into question our understanding of the world around us makes us feel threatened and through that threat activates our fight or flight instincts. Since we can’t run from information we’ve already heard the only choice is to fight back against it either publicly or in our own minds.

I would imagine that Columbia’s disciplinary process creates records that are maintained for a number of years. If they weren’t created, or have since been destroyed that would be evidence towards improper procedures. Certainly any destruction now would be highly illegal and might result in a presumption against the university. As to the tenant laws I assume the order that the students received should be proof enough unless New York tenant laws have a carve out for universities.

Bare in mind that the Constitution is just a piece of paper. It only has power when the government and the will of the people give it power.

There’s a scene from The West Wing that really impressed upon me the great challenge of holding even the seemingly most stable democracies together. Toby Ziegler was working with representatives of a newly forming government and a constitutional scholar played by Christopher Lloyd to craft a constitution. Toby takes issue with the amount of power they are considering vesting in their executive branch, preferring instead a parliamentary system. Christopher Lloyd’s character responds to him with almost this exact point, telling him that their work just then was to instill a democratic spirit in those leaders and through them the broader populace of their country.

Oddly, this exact scenario is a major reason why they fail to issue some warrants. The biggest hurdle for any supranational organization is maintenance of its legitimacy, which takes a huge blow when members refuse to abide by its decisions. This leaves such organizations with very few options. The easiest and most common is to weigh the cost, in lost legitimacy, of not acting against the probability of member defection and only take an action if defection is unlikely or inaction would cost even more legitimacy. In that light issuing the arrest warrant in the first place arguably indicates that the ICC believes either that the legitimacy lost by not acting is greater than that lost to defection, or that labeling Netanyahu and his ilk war criminals is more important than any legitimacy lost in defection.

A very good point, and one I wish I had included in my response.

There does seem to be a non-trivial difference there though. In one the article is failing to state the orientation of the victims which was a motivating factor for the attacks, in the other it is suggesting that the orientation of the accused is a cause of their criminal behavior.

Amazon announces it has too much office space.

Amazon’s right hand mandates RTO.

Amazon’s left hand sells off office space.

Amazon’s right hand finds it doesn’t have enough space for RTO and delays it.

Amazon’s left hand scrambles to buy RTO for its office space.

Amazon admits it has forgotten what RTO is and advises staff to disregard all RTO memos until further notice.

Amazon announces project RTO to debut in Q3 2025. The announcement is vague but it is believed to involve AI.

Look up the opium wars. Shit’ll blow your mind.

But seriously, I don’t know much about that particular drug. What I do know is that the Assad regime has been largely propped up, for some time, by the aid of Russia and Iran. With the war in Ukraine eating up much of Russia’s stockpiles of funds and munitions, and the war in Gaza and Lebanon drawing Iran’s attention it was an ideal time for the rebels, with the backing of Turkey to strike. To the extent that illicit Captagon sales raised significant funds and arms for the regime fluctuations in demand and regional crackdowns may have exacerbated their weakened position, but the larger effect has to be attributed to the loss of support from international allies.

If they don’t already think we’re nuts for wearing clothes.

The most important ethical obligation you have right now is assuring your family member that you are going to be alright after their passing. It’s clear that your family member is worried by your situation and is hoping that the inheritance they leave behind will materially better it. You don’t necessarily have to lie to them and promise to do exactly what they request, but you can at least agree to give it serious consideration and look into the specifics. More importantly you can assure them that you will work hard to be responsible with your inheritance, assure them that it will make a substantive positive difference in your life, and tell them how much it means to you that they care about you so much. Make sure that you’re spending your remaining time together focused on the moment and not either of your hypothetical futures.

After (my condolences in advance) your loved one’s passing, your most pressing ethical obligation will be honoring their wishes. I know it feels like that means becoming a landlord, but it sounds pretty clear to me that their true wish is that you achieve financial security. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t manage a rental property (more on that in a moment), but it could mean anything that provides for your future so long as you earnestly try to use the money responsibly towards that end. I doubt your loved one would be as upset at you learning a new trade or opening a small business that allowed you to provide for yourself as they would be if you became a landlord and lived the rest of your days in financially secure misery. Now is the time to take a look at the price of the low end of rental properties you could run while living in and ask yourself what you could responsibly do with that money to ensure your future stability. That is what your loved one truly wants.

As for being a landlord, it can absolutely be done ethically. I don’t ever aspire to own regardless of home prices and having the landlord live on site is my first suggestion every time I talk about improving rental standards. Seeing issues with their own eyes would hopefully lead landlords to address them when they are cheaper to fix and before they become major problems for tenants. The problem with many landlords is that they’re looking for a passive income instead of a job or side gig. Take seriously the responsibility of providing quality housing at a reasonable price that compensates you for your work and you will genuinely be helping people get away from the worst examples of landlords. Being a landlord can and must be done ethically, and you owe it to your family member to look into how it could be done even if it isn’t a route you choose to take.

On a personal note I’m very sorry to hear of your loved one’s poor health. I hope that they do not suffer greatly. Take what time you can now to take solace in each others’ company and assure them that, while you will grieve mightily their passing, you will be alright after they are gone. Right now their comfort and convalescence is the most importance obligation, later it will be their wish for your health and happiness. Good luck my friend, you will be in my thoughts.

I swear, every James Woods post I’ve ever read is the text equivalent of watching a seasoned philosopher very carefully, and methodically shit their pants.

Curse you for being in an earlier time zone! I wanted to be the first one to post it this year.

Curse you for being in an earlier time zone! I wanted to be the first one to post it this year.

You're not wrong, but winning the election isn't the bridge the article is talking about. There's room for both conversations in the world, and talking about the potential shift taking place in The Democratic Party may help them to win more elections.

There are certainly problems with the state of journalism, but anyone who tries to "view the news as a person" will be as woefully uninformed as those who try to "run government like a business."

Yeah,I'm not gonna lie, I'll enjoy the chance to march with the Northside Coalition again.

What a terrible thing to say about someone's father on the basis of one offhand remark.

Coincidentally my problem is, in fact, that no one is paying me.

Cheap rent with a friend and the ability to move right back out again. I was laid off recently just as I was about to move for work and the choices were be homeless in LA, be homeless in Dallas, or move back into my old room in Jacksonville.