circuscritic

The Confederate statues were errected during the Jim Crow era, and memorializing those men wasn’t their primary purpose. It was to remind those uppity coloreds that they were still living in the white man’s world, and they best not forget that, or their place in it.

I can’t speak to the specifics of the monuments taken down in El Salvador, and whether their destruction more closely mirrors Nazi book burnings, or the destruction of Jim Crow Confederate statues.

My point, sarcastic as it was, was that the tearing down of monuments should be judged on their own individual merits, because there isn’t one right answer.

I agree with everything you said, until the end, but only because it’s inaccurate.

He’s casting a very wide net, that a lot of innocent people have been caught in.

Now, given the circumstances that might be understandable, and it seems that a majority of their voting citizens believe that’s an acceptable cost.

I’m not going to cast any moral judgement on them for that, but I think we should be honest about the totality of his policies.

We shouldn’t lie and call him a dictator, but we also shouldn’t lie and say that only criminals have been caught up in his policing actions.

I agree, I’m also ashamed that my country has been tearing down our monuments. They’re real historical and shit to, going back a couple hundred years I reckon.

Well, they were only put up in the last century, but they celebrated the lives of men from the 1800s.

Yessir, a real impressive group of guys, a confederation of great men, if you will.

And like you said, when countries tear down their monuments, it’s a real bad sign. I couldn’t agree more, that is a universal truth.

If he doesn’t, and he retains power, only then are we at a dictatorship.

Duarte wasn’t a dictator, but that doesn’t change the fact that he oversaw an epic extrajudicial bloodbath during his term.

Point is, words matter and there are plenty of impactful words to describe the situation in El Salvador that are accurate, let’s use those ones.

Everyone here is acting like a dictatorship is worse than gangland anarchy, it’s not. Nor has he reached dictator status, yet.

That DOESN’T mean dictators are good, or that this can’t get worse, but context matters.

Saying Team USA doesn’t get government funding is inaccurate.

It’s not a holistic nationalized system like many other countries have, but that doesn’t mean Team USA athletes and athletic programs aren’t direct recipients of government financial support.

For example:

Team USA athletes have access to some of the best training facilities and coaching teams in the world, many of which get direct, or indirect government funding e.g. grants, subsidies, tax incentives, etc.

On a side note, that’s a great graphic. I was going to mention the hole in the wall in my other comment, but I was too lazy to go grab a source. Kudos.

The issue wasn’t athletes cheating individually. The issue was that Russia had a state sponsored doping program from top to bottom. That is significantly different than one off athletes, or one off coaches.

War crimes have nothing to do with honor, and everything to do with horror. It’s product of statecraft, not a code chivalry.

Also, white phosphorus is a legal illumination munition, but becomes illegal/warcrime when used as an incendiary device. It has nothing to with asphyxiation, or chemical warfare.

The border towns had armed security and IDF soldiers lived within them. Does that make them legitimate targets as well?

Pretty sure you mean his mommy dearest, Pinky MacArthur.

I only play 5d chess.

“Ukraine sunk their battleship, so why hasn’t the war ended?”

If you’re going to insist on learning the realities of war from a boardgame, at least use Risk.

Winning the war isn’t the biggest problem, not losing the peace is, otherwise you get another ISIS, or worse.

Oh, and civilians die by tens or hundreds of thousands.

It’s unconstitutional for Japan’s military to be anything other than a defensive organization.

Now, in practice, they have all sorts of creative ways to get around that, one of which is linguistic tricks and “technically it’s not an aircraft carrier, it’s a…”.

I know they were pushing through constitutional changes, or at least proposing them in the last few years, but I’m not sure if that’s been approved yet, or not. A simple Google search could yield an answer, but I’m too lazy at the moment.

No worries, I didn’t realize that you hadn’t actually read the article before making your comments.

So, you can disregard my comments where I had incorrectly assumed we both actually read the linked LA Times story.

My other comments about how it’s factually incorrect to say methamphetamine and Adderall are the same, those are still in bounds. Right?

Just FYI counterfeit pills sold in Mexico are either made by the cartels, or they’re fake placebo bullshit (both types are mentioned in said article).

I put no words in your mouth. I took your response, briefly explained why it was wrong, and then further expanded on why it was dangerous.

Your words:

Not to mention the pharmacological effects of methamphetamine are indistinguishable from Adderall when taken orally in similar doses

It is, but it’s very rare. It’s mostly used for issues like narcolepsy, as it’s significantly more stimulating then amphetamine salts.

This is objectively false.

Setting aside the issue of QA and how and in what conditions this methamphetamine is being produced, no, the pharmacological effects of methamphetamine are NOT just the same as Adderall (blend of 4 different amphetamine salts).

It’s also not prescribed for ADHD, except in rare circumstances. It’s mostly prescribed for conditions like narcolepsy, because it’s significantly more psychoactive then amphetamine salts, and that’s BEFORE you factor in issue of these being cartel produced counterfeit pressed meth pills vs production in an actual pharmaceutical laboratory with the accompanying conditions and controls.

Of all the things to critique in his reply, swapping a couple letters in the acronym should be the last.

TBH, I sometimes have to say the full name in my head to prevent myself from making the same mistake.

The most charitable take on their reply is that it was rushed after skimming half a dozen Wikipedia articles.

But it’s so disconnected from the topic, that it feels like something else is going on…

Sir, this Wendy’s is aboard a USN vessel.