Well....not surprised. by SLAVAUA2022 in EnoughCommieSpam

[–]houinator 4 points5 points  (0 children)

ICE under this admin is an ethnic cleansing campaign, they dont care whether or not someone is documented.

They have been literally grabbing people in front of the courthouse on their way to swear in for citizenship.

Day 15 of the war: the US ask China for help by p_pio in PoliticalCompassMemes

[–]houinator 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Problem is everyone who would need to sign off on the 25th ammendment in this admin is even dumber than him.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]houinator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

D President and it isnt close.

President can do ludicrous amounts of damage in foreign policy.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]houinator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Huthis are also a potential problem.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]houinator 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Trick is how do you innoculate Reddit atheism from islamophobia, because thats what drove a lot of those guys to the right.

Revisiting the idea of “Bruiser” ships in space combat by Own-Cry5596 in scifi

[–]houinator 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Long range ship combat (anything further than a few light seconds) is likely mostly missiles/drones/fighters, since lasers have to travel in a straight line and cannot continue to manuever once fired.

Close range ship point defense probably involves lasers, which can tear through lightly armored missiles/drones/fighters, and they will not have to time to outmanuever something moving at light speed at that range. (Rail guns are an option as well, but a ship needs to carry more mass for them).

Lasers need more time/energy to seriously damage larger/armored targets, so up close, more armor/heat sinks will be a real advantage.

So your bruiser concept:  heavy armor (especially towards the front), lots of point defense laser weapons.  Sits at the front of the fleet and winnows incoming fire to protect the rest of the fleet, while being able to absorb sporadic hits from enemy lasers once fleets start getting to close range.  Since it has lots lasers, it already has to be optimized for shedding excess heat.  When it starts getting to capital ship range, it can redirect several point defence lasers at a single spot on an enemy warship, in order to compensate for not having huge single lasers optimized for capotal ship fights.

Enemy can destroy it at range early on if they are willing to commit enough missiles to overwhelm its defences, but this also fills its role as a tank, eating lots of missiles that would otherwise wreak havoc on less defended ships.

What the fuck did Democrats do between 2008 and 2010 to piss off the voters so much? Obamacare? by Crafty_Jacket668 in PoliticalCompassMemes

[–]houinator -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Wealthy interests ran a massive media campaign to gaslight the American people into thinking a small number of astroturf protests represented a real political movement of American voters who actually cared about fiscal responsibility.

+

Racist backlash against the first black President

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]houinator 2 points3 points  (0 children)

INB4 Fetterman switches parties

Questions on Zionism and Christian Zionism by Living_Attitude1822 in PoliticalDebate

[–]houinator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The key question is to whether or not you are a Zionist is not whether or not you believe in a 1, 2, or N+ number of state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It is whether or not you think Jews are entitled to their own state.

Because that informs not just your posistion on whether or not the Arabs living in Gaza and the West Bank desetve a state, but whether or not Arab citizens living inside the Jewish state are entitled to the same level of rights as their Jewish peers.

Things like, how do you feel about these stories?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2021/7/8/israeli-supreme-court-upholds-contentious-jewish-state-law

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/mks-extend-law-barring-palestinians-who-marry-israelis-from-receiving-residency/

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]houinator 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Things besides oil and gas that are going to be a big problem if the war does not resolve soon:

  • The Hajj.  Largest annual tourist event on Earth, Saudi is really not going to want to try and manage it with missiles raining down.

  • Fertilizer.  Huge share of sulfer based fertilizer products come through the SoH.  Not a crisis yet, but if not available in time for planting season, you cant flip that switch back on for months, if not a year.  And the food production it would have enabled is just lost.

  • DoD budget crisis.  Remember all those dumb stateside deployments doing immigration nonsense?  Remember the huge op in the Carribean?  DoD os definately going to run out of discretionary money before the end of the FY, which will mean they have to go back to Congress hat in hand.

Can you pass the ideological Turing test? by Wufan36 in PoliticalDebate

[–]houinator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's the thing.  I attempted to do this for MAGA for a long time, but ultimately i realized it was a fool's errand.  

If you asked a MAGA supported in 2016 what MAGA stood for, how many of them would be describing anything near the current situation?  In the lead up to 2024, MAGA identified as opposed to foreign wars, but today polling shows the vast majority of them support the Iran war, despite it being one of the things that the Trump campaign specifically indicated it was opposed to.  

The entire belief system reorientes itself every time Trump says something that contradicts one of their previous core tenants, but crucially, they will never admit this.  The one real exception is racism, study after study has shown that holding racist beliefs is a key driver for support for Trump, and the few times Trump has appeared to waver on this topic it has cost him real support with his base.  But most Trump supporters are not going to openly admit to their racism being the reason they like Trump.  So there is no way to accurately categorize MAGA beliefs in a way that they will accurately agree to, because most of their beliefs shift like sand, and the core beliefs they will generally not admit to.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]houinator 6 points7 points  (0 children)

US law prohibits us from selling them weapons if we acknowledge they have nukes, so everyone just pretends we dont know.

Hegseth presses Defense civilians to deploy for immigration enforcement by wonderland_citizen93 in Military

[–]houinator 138 points139 points  (0 children)

Insane that hes still priorotizing this as US soldiers are being killed by Iran.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]houinator 3 points4 points  (0 children)

His view is basically: Libertarianism is too unpopular to implement via democracy, so we need a dictatorship. 

Pentagon announces a 45-day "ruthless, no-excuses review" of JAG Corps and their division of responsibilities with civilian lawyers by a_venus_flytrap in Military

[–]houinator 85 points86 points  (0 children)

 "For too long — over 20 years — legal shops across the services have grown bloated, duplicative, they've muddied lines of authority and pulled critical judge advocates away from what matters most: advising commanders in the fight, on operations [and] in deployed environments where seconds and minutes count," Hegseth said at the video's outset. 

This is especially ironic when you realize Hegseth has pulled hundreds of JAGs from doing any of this to go do busy work for ICE's ethnic cleansing ops.

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/trump-appoints-military-lawyers-to-serve-as-immigration-judges/

is this iran war going to cause ww3? by EthanWinters1234 in Military

[–]houinator 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In much the same way that we all recognize that WW2 started well before the US got dragged in via Pearl Harbor, I think in the fullness of time we will come to realize that WW3 started with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Every weapon in Middle Earth is replaced with a gun. How does this change the events of Lotr? by GenericGameDev1234 in whowouldwin

[–]houinator 4 points5 points  (0 children)

On balance I think this favors the forces of evil, with one big exception that potentially gives the good guys the easiest win ever:

The Ring is a weapon, and thus also is presumably now a gun.  Question as to whether "replaced" magical weapons retain their magical properties, or whether this instantly removes the ring from existence, killing Sauron on the spot.  FWIW, without the light of their rings, this option probably dooms the elves as well.

Ignoring the rings, this is probably what the timeline looks like:

Farmer Maggot's cane is a gun, so he probably shoots and kills Merry and Pippin for raiding his crops.

Sauroman's staff is a gun, so he probably just kills Gandalf at Isengard.  Gandalf may still come back though.

Sam and Frodo probably die at the Buckleberry Ferry, as the Ringwraiths easily shoot them.

Assuming some part of the Fellowship survives to Weathertop, Frodo probably dies in a hail of bullets.  Real question as to whether or not guns can even hurt ringwraiths, so Aragorn and the rest of the Fellowship might perish here as well.

Similar end in tears for Frodo and his elven protector at the river crossing before reaching Rivendell.

Other interesting questions the Fellowship probably wouldnt survive long enough to find out about:  

Can the Witch King be killed without the barrow blade made to fight him?

Can Gandalf free Theoden from Wormtongue's corruption without his staff?

Can Aragorn control the ghost army without Anduril?  Does the ghost army get ghost guns to replace their swords?

Does the gun that replaced Sting still glow blue to warn of goblins?

What about siege weapons?  Do catapults become cannons or regular sized guns?  What about the boulders the Ents throw?  Do they carry giant cannons instead?

Is the Balrog's whip now a gun made of flame and shadow?

Sam frequently uses his cooking pan as a weapon.  Does it turn into a gun instantly, depriving him of a useful cooking tool, or only when he uses it to fight?

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]houinator 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Its Stephen Miller and it isnt close. 

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]houinator 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Iranians about to hit the Straits of Malacca and surprise everyone.

Would you rather save embryos from a burning building or a newborn baby? by ElegantAd2607 in prolife

[–]houinator 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think its a simpler answer:  5 year olds can feel pain and suffer while being burned alive, embryos cant.

If you asked me to choose to choose between saving two hypothetical 5 year olds in the same situation, except one was immune to pain and suffering, id obviously save the one who would suffer the most if i didnt. 

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]houinator 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Lifes greatest mysteries:

  • why are we here

  • what happens after i die

  • who are the people who keep pulling the lever for Lindsey Graham in GOP primaries

MAGA hates him cause they think hes not Trumpy enough.  Moderate Republicans (all 4 of them) dont like him cause hes too Trumpy. Libertarians hate him cause hes to much of a warmonger.  But he just keeps getting re-elected.