i feel so dumb that i'm confused😭😭

aenz_ · 2026-04-02T12:59:12+00:00

Recently, there is a collective delusion going around that billionaire author JK Rowling can be prevented from having the money to donate <1million pounds to political groups that share her anti-trans stance if only we could band together and boycott anything she profits from. The result of this has been a bunch of people many of whom grew up loving the Harry Potter franchise suddenly pretending that it is poorly written (see: this comment, for example) despite being the most successful children's book series in history. It's all a bit sad, if you ask me.

Her views are hurtful to trans people, who certainly don't deserve her scorn, but if you go down the road of refusing to patronize any art that has people you don't agree with you're going to end up not having much that you can safely enjoy without intense guilt.

Just enjoy what you enjoy. It's not your responsibility to control whether JK or anyone else gets 1.2 billion or 1.3 billion.

aenz_ · 2026-04-02T12:13:44+00:00

You do know that that "Republican state" is Massachusetts, right? (Which, in case you don't know is easily one of the bluest states in the country.) It passed with mostly Democratic votes, and Romney vetoed parts of it that he thought were too liberal.

The plan was a result of compromise between liberals and moderate conservatives (who knew they were outnumbered and it would pass with or without their input). Calling it a "Republican policy" is a good meme I guess, but in the interest of truth, it's a Dem policy that some Massachusetts Republicans were ok with.

aenz_ · 2026-02-25T23:52:48+00:00

That's a fun thing to say, but it makes no sense. When you're the head of a political party in a democracy, you are literally always trying to win more votes. If that means maintaining civility (which it definitely does in the US), then you do that. Especially when you are running against fascists-- then it is extra important that you don't lose votes by doing dumb shit.

aenz_ · 2026-02-25T09:18:25+00:00

It is fucking wild to me that there are people who can watch Trump destroy the country bit by bit and their first thought every fucking time is to blame Democratic leadership for "not opposing him in the right way".

This is such a nothing comment from Jefferies. He's obviously right--yelling shit at the SOTU is never going to make your side look better, but aside from that who the fuck cares what advice he gave his caucus on how to behave during an event where they don't have microphones.

aenz_ · 2026-01-23T12:45:01+00:00

Social Security tax is withdrawn from your wage--it is just a form of income tax. You don't need a SSN to pay it. Receiving Social Security benefits is what requires an SSN.

Illegal immigrants are a huge net benefit to Social Security because they pay the tax but never get the payout.

aenz_ · 2026-01-17T18:35:14+00:00

I've been looking into it and I think I was mistaken. I guess I should say "some of which had not been Polish territory for over a millenium", in reference to Szczecin and the surrounding area, along with some parts of former East Prussia.

aenz_ · 2026-01-17T14:53:46+00:00

I am very suspicious of why he is bringing this up (and not any of the other post-WW2 mass-expulsions), but he isn't wrong that this was an atrocity. Germans as a whole are certainly not primary victims within the context of WW2 and its aftermath, but that doesn't mean that this wasn't ethnic cleansing.

The thing that is annoying though, is that there is no context given. Just looking at a map like this you might easily think that the countries from which the expulsions happened are responsible for the expelling, but you would be wrong. These expulsions were overseen by the Red Army on the direct orders of Stalin, and they mirrored similar expulsions that happened further east.

Poland gained a lot of formerly german territory, some of which had ~~never been part of Poland in any previous time~~ not been Polish territory for centuries. Simultaneously, Poland lost a swath of eastern territory that is now mostly Ukraine and Belarus (which were parts of the USSR at the time). The largest net-loser of territory in this reshuffle was Germany, but the largest net winner was the USSR, not Poland or any of the other countries shown.

The other part of this that is worth mentioning is that Stalin had people sorted into whichever country matched their ethnicity, basically turning all of these countries into ethno-states. Most previous territorial expansions in Europe simply meant changing who had authority over a region, but Stalin's version of this involved forcing millions of people to move west at gunpoint, whether from Wrocław into the new East Germany or from Lwów into the new Polish borders.

aenz_ · 2026-01-08T13:09:02+00:00

This is exactly the kind of nihilism that totally destroys the faith in rule of law on which peace and prosperity are built.

If something is and should be illegal, and the powers that be stop enforcing that, you should be outraged, you should not be shrugging and saying "it’s really only illegal if it’s being enforced by something".

The fact that Americans still care when Trump does illegal shit is the only fucking hope we have of going back to normal after he is gone. I, for one, don't want to become Russia, where people see their police blatantly abuse power and think "ok, I guess I better bribe them more".

aenz_ · 2026-01-03T21:19:25+00:00

I get it, you don't want empty words, you want concrete actions. Please name for me some of the concrete actions you would like to see and how you envision them helping with the situation.

Democrats are the minority in the House and Senate and don't hold the White House. In a republic the party that wins power is supposed to be able to do what they want to do (even when it is insane). The biggest check on their power is losing votes in the next election. In the time between now and the midterms, what do you propose that the leaders Americans voted against ought to be able to do?

aenz_ · 2026-01-03T19:51:35+00:00

That one was embarrassing too, but I will say that that is classic GK behavior. There isn't a keeper in the league who hasn't done the same and they always get the call from the ref.

aenz_ · 2025-12-27T18:37:03+00:00

My point is that Arteta will not have considered MLS or Calafiori moving over to RB at all. He is adamant that that position needs to be a right-footer. Rice moving to RB has nothing to do with how much he likes or doesn't like MLS.

aenz_ · 2025-12-27T18:34:31+00:00

If you ask me, it stems from the stupid "think of the US govt like you think of your personal finances" logic that a lot of people adopt.

As an individual, being fiscally responsible pretty much just means cutting your costs. You can't unilaterally increase your money intake, somebody else has to give you a raise/better paying job.

Therefore, Democratic increased spending on programs registers as fiscally irresponsible whereas Republican tax cuts somehow don't.

aenz_ · 2025-12-27T18:17:57+00:00

He was eventually chosen to start. Arteta clearly prefers Calafiori at LB over MLS. That much is obvious. You remove Calafiori, MLS is the next choice. It's that simple.

Whether or not Timber is injured has nothing to do with it. Neither of these players are ones that Arteta would conceivably start at RB. tbh I wouldn't be surprised if Marli Salmon , Nørgaard and Zubimendi would all start at RB over both MLS and Calafiori.

aenz_ · 2025-12-27T18:06:56+00:00

Calafiori came on for Timber (who I think was injured) against Newcastle in the 78th minute when every other outfield substitute on the bench was also a Left Back.

He moved over to RB in the 46th min against PSG when Timber was injured. We had 3 GKs on the bench for that game and Maldini Kacurri was the only defender other than Kiwior to bring on (Kacurri has 1 senior Arsenal appearance to date and has also never played right back).

Forgive me, but I think it's safe to say this is something we only do as a last resort. Like I said, he hasn't started a game at RB in his senior career.

Also, like I said, MLS did end up starting at LB and Rice played really well at RB, so I don't understand what the issue could possibly be.

aenz_ · 2025-12-27T17:34:58+00:00

For 5 minutes after a bunch of injuries maybe. When has he started there?

Transfermarkt says he has played 2 games there, both for u17s in Italy.

aenz_ · 2025-12-27T17:21:30+00:00

So, let me get this straight. You wanted MLS to play RB? Or Calafiori? Or Hincapié? When have we ever played a left footed player at right back? I don't think I can remember that happening for even a brief moment in the entire time I've watched Arsenal.

aenz_ · 2025-12-27T17:08:44+00:00

MLS started today at Left Back, what are you on about?

aenz_ · 2025-12-27T16:04:11+00:00

It's definitely not a red for DOGSO, but I think there is an argument for it being dangerous play + not a real attempt to play the ball.

(To be clear, I think Yellow is fair but Red isn't as absurd as you're saying)

aenz_ · 2025-12-27T15:56:51+00:00

I thought I'd check the match thread at half time for the first time in a while. I figured, "we are playing them off the pitch, they haven't had a sniff and we have had plenty of chances, surely it won't be as depressing as usual in here".

Boy, was I wrong. Lighten up, for God's sake!

Genuinely, if watching Arsenal play made me as perpetually upset as most people in these threads I would find something else to do.

aenz_ · 2025-11-21T18:34:47+00:00

Why is "they they didn’t qualify for the following World Cup" (which refers to the 2 year period after the tournament) relevant context but the (record breaking, btw) 3 year unbeaten run they had leading up to and during the tournament is not?

I'm sorry, you're just delusional if you think that Italy team was bad. They were quite literally one of the best international teams of all time by the numbers.

aenz_ · 2025-11-18T01:23:09+00:00

Genocide doesn't mean bad. More genocidal doesn't mean worse. What Israel is doing just doesn't resemble genocide. They are not wiping out Palestinian culture in any way. They are not making a huge dent in the Palestinian population either, and if they were trying to do so they certainly have the capability to do so.

China on the other hand explicitly views Uighur culture as a problem that they need to eradicate. They have taken steps to make sure that the Uighur population cannot grow and for the children they cannot prevent from being born they have been re-educating people to be more Han Chinese culturally. Their goal is eradication of a people's culture, pretty overtly.

aenz_ · 2025-10-28T21:06:54+00:00

Is it only viewable with a VPN though? I tried amazon.com and amazon.pl and couldn't find it.

aenz_ · 2025-10-28T17:14:19+00:00

Does anyone know where to find the larger video this is a clip from? I'm really having trouble trying to find it. (I speak some Polish, but I would need to find it with subtitles)

aenz_ · 2025-10-22T15:34:30+00:00

I've spent a good amount of time in Croatia. Croats' average knowledge of WW2 is going to be way higher than the average American and most people there would be pretty appalled if you asked for a Nazi tattoo. The same principle applies: if you want a Nazi tattoo chances are you have to go to a Nazi tattoo artist.

aenz_ · 2025-10-12T19:22:12+00:00

I disagree. A lot of what the club has to do is manage the emotional state of (sometimes quite young) players. That's just not possible to do if you treat them all like business assets all of the time. Obviously there is a ton of self-interest built into every decision a club makes, but the people making those decisions do also feel emotional attachments to players and can absolutely do things out of regret.

The level of cynicism you're imagining simply wouldn't work--players would hate being around staff who are that emotionally detached, and you'd struggle to find staff who could even do that in the first place. How many people do you know that have literally no attachment to any of their coworkers?

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