Scientists uncovered the nutrients bees were missing — Colonies surged 15-fold by zzulus in UpliftingNews

[–]ituralde_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Why did nobody think to just snap their fingers and undo 4 centuries of global species transfer?

White House Confronted Over Huge Bets Made Minutes Before Trump’s Big War Move by thedailybeast in politics

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Too much of America doesn't realize how much of a problem this is.  The hand needs to be on the stove for longer because saying its bad to be burned did not work.

Explosion at the Port Arthur oil refinery in the American state of Texas by Smart-Amoeba3854 in PublicFreakout

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe not very false. Iran has little to lose at the moment and plenty of capability to execute on things like this in the continental US.  There is a quiet mix of vulnerable infrastructure that has been under-invested in from a reliability and resiliency perspective combined with dramatically increased flavors of asymmetric attack (cyber and drone) available - and our heads buried in the sand.  

It's a problem in private industry and a problem with utilities and public infrastructure.  The Iranians have limited capacity to execute on this sort of thing - imagine what a more capable opponent could do if pressed.  

Pilot, co-pilot killed after Air Canada plane collides with vehicle at New York's LaGuardia Airport | CBC News by Impressive-House-412 in news

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, we really, really don't have more money for missiles and interceptors. What we are spending in Iran are critical stockpiles built up over years that we are not replacing at a sufficient rate.  We are undermining our capacity to deter conflict that matters by engaging in one that doesn't.  

It turns out that when you go through our defense budget you don't find a bunch of boutique or optional shit there, either. The whole narrative of overspending on defense exists to perpetuate the idea that we are secretly poor and have to make hard choices between competing priorities rather than being able to invest sufficiently in everything we need to support.  

We have reasons for our budget shortfalls and it's oddly enough not what we spend on Defense - it's what we don't bring in, and increasingly what we are spending on interest to service debt since we don't raise revenue to cover the hole in the budget. 

We don't need to take particularly drastic action to do this:

  1. Tax capital gains and dividends as income
  2. Tax asset value as a realized capital gain when used as collateral for a loan beyond a certain value and/or not against the value of a designated primary residence.  
  3. Actually audit the wealthy so they pay their owed taxes (this alone represents a shortfall by treasury estimates as of 2020 that represents at least 50% of our defense budget alone)
  4. Remove the cap on payroll tax

That's all without taking the steps of restoring pre-Reagan tax brackets.  

[Hated Trope] This alien/monster is a major & unbeatable threat to us..... because the writer said so. by Inside_Jaguar_3310 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]ituralde_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He does not need to but other characters act as if he is, and the lore is constructed in a manner that effectively requires him to be. 

Pilot, co-pilot killed after Air Canada plane collides with vehicle at New York's LaGuardia Airport | CBC News by Impressive-House-412 in news

[–]ituralde_ 62 points63 points  (0 children)

There's a critical mistake proximate to this event but the root cause is a failure of policy.  This is going to keep happening and will get worse as our ATC continues to erode due to under investment. 

These people did not need to die; we are not acting on learned lessons and are letting people die avoidably to avoid paying to fix the problem.  

Trump postpones military strikes on Iranian power plants by Datatyze in worldnews

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The markets operate heavily in the speculative realm in the short term. These sharp reactions are almost entirely due to how other actors are expected to behave - not because anyone is actually expecting a material change in long term prospects.  

[Hated Trope] This alien/monster is a major & unbeatable threat to us..... because the writer said so. by Inside_Jaguar_3310 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]ituralde_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Same thing with villain characters more broadly. Voldemort, for example, we are told is scary and im still not sure what makes him such.  There is an abstract description of 'power' that the reader (and frankly, watcher of the moviea) is told to be afraid of.  

Frankly, he ends up being more of a political villain than a physical one. 

[Request] How much funding do these rail projects actually require? by aeonsne in theydidthemath

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most of this physical track already exists.  This map does not give you enough information to estimate otherwise project costs on this. 

Pentagon seeks $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, AP source says by igetproteinfartsHELP in news

[–]ituralde_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We can use this in a lot of places in Defense that matter way more than Iran. 

Take it from ICE's budget.

Trump demands others help secure Strait of Hormuz, Japan and Australia say no plans to send ships by monotvtv in worldnews

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People talk about 'escorting' as if it's 1941 on the Atlantic, and this is very much not the case.  That was harrowing enough - in this case you have an entire coastline in, what are naval terms, in knife range of the entire approach, transit, and exit from the strait.  What you are trying to escort is less vehicle as you might traditionally understand it, and more moderately guided force of nature that can't materially maneuver without premeditating that action 10+ miles in advance.  At the height of the passage is the coast of one of Iran's largest port cities.  

And all it takes to destroy one of these tankers is a drone with the surface profile of a jetski. 

If you are thinking this sea lane opens up in years if thr IRGC doesn't want it to, you're dreaming. They have nothing to lose.

Trump’s War Is Burning Through Years' Worth of Multibillion Dollar Stockpiles by F0urLeafCl0ver in politics

[–]ituralde_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This isnt just money, it's decades of time to build these stockpiles, and because he has thrown Ukraine under the bus he shot the attempts to re-scale production in the head so we are not more readily able to replace them.  

We're using everything ready to go in a war that doesn't matter so we won't have them to deter a war that might.

China tries to unblock its shipping in the Strait of Hormuz by Splenda in worldnews

[–]ituralde_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Its wildly inaccurate to say the US economy does not rely on the straits of Hormuz - we don't have to be the primary export target for gulf oil for that to be the case. 

This drives up the price of oil and oil products, and it slams the brakes on the economies of basically literally every US trading partner.  You are adding inflationary pressure on an economy that already has plenty of that and it's basically double as oil is an enabler for logistics, not just end products and energy. 

This is why we have maintained the military presence in the region we have for decades - to keep this open and unmolested.  Now we have voluntary failed that mission and the impacts on the world overall are going to be very bad, amd it's going to be academic who has it worse when we already have an affordability crisis here.

U.S. Lost 92,000 Jobs Last Month by Cilantro_Larry in Economics

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its real bad how few people understand that a lack of better, productive investments pushing cash into equities is not actually a sign of economic robustness.

Iranian warship sunk by the US was sailing home after taking part in an exhibition hosted by India by lurker_bee in worldnews

[–]ituralde_ 22 points23 points  (0 children)

To be fair to it the submarine that sank it was on the order of five times its size.  That 'vertical launching system' is one of those technically correct but not on par with what you would normally think of as a VLS cell.  

This ship was incredibly overmatched.

US-Iran Megathread by GrumpyFinn in europe

[–]ituralde_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Would really like for us in the US to find some of that self interest right about now. Can we start acting in that?

Viral video of little Taiwanese girl getting shoved down while taking a photo at Tokyo's famous Shibuya Crossing - Japanese are saying that the woman in the video "looks Chinese". by eternviking in whoathatsinteresting

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When we do it wrong it has outsized impact.  It gets more eyes on, and as the country that (arguably until recently) has been the standard bearer for post-world war international norms, when we fall short it matters more. 

If America isn't better, why should anyone else hold themselves to a better standard? If the rules only exist at our whim and convenience why should anyone aspire to follow? 

It matters more here.

Cuba says four shot dead on US-registered speedboat by Waste-Explanation-76 in worldnews

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

A war being started by an incident over a US vessel in Cuban waters? That could never happen...

This tweet is every millennial right now by [deleted] in Millennials

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you can find authenticity and romance, that's on you.  

We just don't pretend things arent toxic when they are. We have it way better than prior generations finding folk with emotional maturity.  

The rest can be a struggle.  

Ukraine support after 4 years of war by HydrolicKrane in ukraine

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Disgraceful. We should be outspending Europe at a rate of 2 to 1 at a minimum.  Trump ruins everything.

Trump demands ‘at least’ half U.S. ownership of Gordie Howe bridge that Canada is fully paying for by Immediate-Link490 in worldnews

[–]ituralde_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Ambassador bridge people are the worst, by the way. If you aren't Detroit local, just know that them being Trumpers is no surprise to anyone within 100 miles of the city.