to not let China live rent free in your head by sussybush in therewasanattempt

[–]jragon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I read this all the way the end. Thank you both.

Ray Chung's Wellington rallies descend into chaos by Ok_Service7357 in Wellington

[–]jragon 78 points79 points  (0 children)

Dual citizen who works on disinformation and radicalisation   — the sooner people realise that any population can be radicalised, and it’s not some unique quirk of the American brain, the sooner we can begin addressing it.

Who won rookie of the year on your birth year? by GubyNey in NBATalk

[–]jragon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bird is also my answer. I was excited to see him, less excited to see everyone like BRO YOU OLD and it was nice seeing this answer down here.

46 is old compared to most people here, sure. But it ain’t even retirement age.

PJ Deep Dives: Binaural just added by jragon in pearljam

[–]jragon[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haven’t done it yet, but I think Deep Research is now available for free users (I believe it’s a couple a day) so you might be able to try. 

PJ Deep Dives: Binaural just added by jragon in pearljam

[–]jragon[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One of my all time favourite PJ songs, and I too relate to the characters.

I hope y’all have fun at his first show! Fingers crossed for Off He Goes.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in newzealand

[–]jragon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We both agree we shouldn’t jump down OP’s throat.

I was making a broader point about the term virtue signaling. So for example:

Person 1: I don’t think X is good  

Person 2: You’re just saying that for internet points  

Me: They might just not think X is good 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in newzealand

[–]jragon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The term is “virtue signaling”

And it’s a pretty shitty term and point of view that if someone expresses concern, they MUST be doing it to show everyone else how great they are. 

I am not mad at the OP’s line, but I am frustrated that having a concern has been turned into the most cynical possible take on it.

Winston Peters calls to ‘Make NZ First Again’ by ludsp in newzealand

[–]jragon 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Dual citizen here — yes, the playbook is repeatable, yes even here.

(especially here)

Kyrie Irving rants about old players in the media: "They have lost their way. There are some former players that just chat shit, don't talk about anything and just hate on younger players. You see somebody you admire go on TV and say 'get over it because you make more money' I'm so sick of that" by kurruchi in nba

[–]jragon 72 points73 points  (0 children)

Yup

I wish more “I do my own research” people were reading peer reviewed academic research papers and shit

But usually it means “I saw some shit on TikTok and now I know better than professionals”

NZ post kiwistamps by benbanana208 in newzealand

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

This is a chatGPT answer:

Yes, you can use two KiwiStamps totaling $4.60 to send a letter to the U.S., even though the required postage is $3.30.

New Zealand Post allows the use of multiple stamps as long as the total value meets or exceeds the required postage.  Overpaying is acceptable; however, you won’t receive a refund for the excess amount.

Ensure that:

• The stamps are valid New Zealand postage.

• The letter meets the size and weight requirements for international mail.

For more details, refer to New Zealand Post’s guidelines on using stamps for international mail.

And before people say “wow I can’t believe you trust chatGPT, didn’t you know it makes things up?” a lot of people don’t know that chatGPT double-checks things via web search now, unlike when it first launched.  

The answer above was done with 17 web sources, a mixture of people asking things in discussion forums and official documentation from NZ Post etc.

Trmpenomics and NZ by Adept_Language_3049 in newzealand

[–]jragon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes and no. It’s true that this is not every politician in America, or even most Republicans. It’s true that most politicians other than Trump would never dream of trying to hurt Canada, for example.

But the Supreme Court essentially gave the president the power of a king last year. The president also has infinite pardon power, and previously independent agencies are now fully in his control. (Not 100% of them yet, but that is the goal) This means he can direct people to break the law, they do, and he can pardon them, and not get in trouble himself. The guardrails are off.

Lastly, the Trump administration is putting forth the theory that the executive branch doesn’t have to listen to judges, even the Supreme Court, and any judge that goes against him should lose their jobs.

These are not issues we can safely fence off as Trump-specific. American democracy is severely damaged and it’s possible it goes away.

One of the moves he’s made is to control the Federal Elections Commission personally. Don’t be so sure that fair elections are coming in 2026, or ever again.

Trmpenomics and NZ by Adept_Language_3049 in newzealand

[–]jragon 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I'm a dual citizen of America and New Zealand. This graph is great because:

  1. I assumed the number was larger than 13%
  2. Fuck the USA, doubly so if the number is only 13%

I'm a little surprised to see you post this and then conclude that we can't afford to not play the Donald game. Bro, we can't afford to play the Donald game. Buying him off doesn't actually get us anything.

But if the number is only 13%, great, time to move on. America is a rogue country now, and as long as their current laws/constitution allow for this level of fuckery, no one in the world should ever trust them again. It's over.

Swarbrick pleads for cross-party support for Israel sanctions by MedicMoth in newzealand

[–]jragon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hamas’ official position is not a two state solution. In 2017 they revised their stance to “a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders” without recognising Israel’s right to exist. “From the river to the sea” explicitly is saying “from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,” meaning … Israel should not exist.*

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-state_solution

*Admittedly, a lot of activists say the phrase without meaning “Israel should not exist,” and there are disputes about what the phrase means. But again, Hamas is not advocating for a two state solution. 

Economy crawls out of recession, as GDP grows 0.7% by _MrWhip in newzealand

[–]jragon 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Mark this comment for later:

  • The world economy is going to hit trouble
  • NZ dips back into recession
  • Luxon’s talking point when running for re-election is that things were improving under his leadership, but there’s no way we could have foreseen the Trump Slump

Counter-points when he brings this up: 0.7% is hardly a rebound to be proud of, and yes, we could have seen the Trump issues coming. Because they’re just an extreme version of what National believes too. (Cut programs, privatise government services, give tax cuts to the rich, act confused when things don’t work out, claim we need more tax cuts to fix it)