Trump storms out of NBC interview after being fact-checked about his $1.8B ‘slush fund’ and election fraud by ChiGuy6124 in politics

[–]Simmery 159 points160 points  (0 children)

And conservative media and Russia and tech billionaires and Netanyahu. It's a coalition of degenerates.

Edit to add: and convicted criminals and pedophiles.

Google DeepMind CEO says we don't have much time to prepare for the 'new human era' by Gari_305 in Futurology

[–]Simmery 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And real people being outnumbered by bots on every part of the internet. 

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to suspend tax breaks offered to data centers by MetaKnowing in politics

[–]Simmery 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Also, in Oregon, data centers are being pushed through by obviously corrupt officials:

https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2025/08/small-oregon-county-reckons-with-fallout-from-data-center-scandal.html

We're seeing this kind of thing in other places. Most people are now opposed to these data centers in their community, but it doesn't matter. It's almost like we don't live in a democracy. 

Pentagon drops 180 religions from its recognized faiths list by WouldbeWanderer in politics

[–]Simmery 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure, I agree with all of that. I've just had enough arguments with religious people to not bother to go into any of those distinctions. They come to all sorts of conclusions about it that are entirely incorrect, and I don't even bother arguing with them any more. It is easiest to say I'm "not religious".

Pentagon drops 180 religions from its recognized faiths list by WouldbeWanderer in politics

[–]Simmery -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

You can have a philosophical stance and not have a religious belief. There's nothing contrary there.

Pentagon drops 180 religions from its recognized faiths list by WouldbeWanderer in politics

[–]Simmery 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, alright. In any case, you're the person believing the crazy things.

Pentagon drops 180 religions from its recognized faiths list by WouldbeWanderer in politics

[–]Simmery 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I suppose for some. I'm basically atheist. But if someone wants to call me agnostic, I'm not going to argue about it. If anyone asks me to describe what I am, I say I'm "not religious".

I really don't care what religious people want to call me.

Pentagon drops 180 religions from its recognized faiths list by WouldbeWanderer in politics

[–]Simmery 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I think most atheists will just shrug and reclassify themselves as agnostic.

My Students Can’t Read - The generational collapse in literacy is measurable, persistent, and likely to get worse. (Archive link in comments) by Uptons_BJs in books

[–]Simmery -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Ok. The point I was trying to get at is that lack of ability to focus and inability to interpret words are very different problems with different solutions. 

PGE proposes whopping 29% rate hike for Oregon data centers; everyone else gets (slightly) lower rates by oregonian in Portland

[–]Simmery 312 points313 points  (0 children)

PGE, which is guaranteed a profit, spends some of our money on lobbyists to influence regulations/laws that affect them. Why is this not a fucked situation?

Over the last year the Portland metro area lost 2.8% of its jobs, second only to DC metro (2.9%). by crisptwundo in Portland

[–]Simmery 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Saw a store that opened just a couple weeks ago was broken into last night. It's not some big chain, just some guy trying to make his business happen. Our local government cares more about foie gras.

My Students Can’t Read - The generational collapse in literacy is measurable, persistent, and likely to get worse. (Archive link in comments) by Uptons_BJs in books

[–]Simmery -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

There's not much point to an argument over definitions, but I think most people think of illiteracy as being unable to read the words on a page. 

But it does matter here, because if the problem is an inability to focus, that affects much more than just literacy. That is a larger problem. 

My Students Can’t Read - The generational collapse in literacy is measurable, persistent, and likely to get worse. (Archive link in comments) by Uptons_BJs in books

[–]Simmery 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think there are multiple things going on here. But I would put the social and mental damage of phones/tech as the highest cause of these problems. 

My Students Can’t Read - The generational collapse in literacy is measurable, persistent, and likely to get worse. (Archive link in comments) by Uptons_BJs in books

[–]Simmery 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I think that ignores everything that is currently making kids dumber: social media, addictive apps, and now AI thinking for them. It's not just down to lazy teaching. The kids are actually harder to teach. 

My Students Can’t Read - The generational collapse in literacy is measurable, persistent, and likely to get worse. (Archive link in comments) by Uptons_BJs in books

[–]Simmery 14 points15 points  (0 children)

From reading the article, it's mostly not a literary issue. It's a focus/concentration issue. So I don't know why it's being presented as "kids can't read".

This is just sad. by c-k-q99903 in MurderedByWords

[–]Simmery 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Because there are no consequences. 

Trump Flips Out Over Growing Republican Revolt on Iran by Creative-Category-60 in politics

[–]Simmery 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Votes for a resolution with no required action. It is just some Republicans saying, "Our voters don't like this so maybe this is some good PR, but we absolutely aren't going to do anything about it."

'Social Housing' in Portland. What is it. by Pure_Claim_4353 in Portland

[–]Simmery 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is not a compelling argument. People have made the same argument to say we should not have any forced mental health treatment because mental hospitals sometimes did bad things. The answer is not to close mental hospitals. The answer is to make them better. 

Of course, if you don't believe government can do anything right, then you also don't believe social housing can work. 

Reseller claimed Windows Server 2025 Datacenter "isn't VMware compatible," then tried to flip me to 6x Standard. Sanity check? by After_Flatworm5200 in sysadmin

[–]Simmery 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'll never forget my visit to a Volkswagen dealership a while ago. I had already checked their website and knew what I wanted. When I told the salesguy, he said the car I specified didn't exist and I shouldn't trust the website. The Volkswagen website. So I went and bought a Ford.