Shifty Eyes

puts away pitchfork and lit torch

Thank you

Cynical view: neoliberals are in bed with republicans, gotta follow the money and lobbyists.

A kinder take: The dems definitely have a messaging problem.

Bernie and AOC will tell it to you straight.

Business climate would be better under Vance, at least he won’t throw tariff tantrums and we know what to expect. Companies might actually start hiring again. Trump is so volatile that companies are hesitant to do anything right now, its just low hire, low fire wait it out for the next 3 years.

Edit: I would be surprised if Trump gets removed under the 25th amendment or impeached. The rules state the VP and majority of the cabinet would need to declare him unfit, then President could challenge, then you need a super-majority of two-thirds votes in both houses for it to stand. Very unlikely sequence of events. Unless something drastically changes in the midterm elections, I think its more likely for Trump to stay on as a puppet if he really has dementia or mental decline.

They’re at a turning point, and coal is on a downward trend as a % of their total energy usage, even if energy produced by coal increased.

https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/china#what-sources-does-the-country-get-its-energy-from

Yes Fap November, let’s goooo

Based on the 2024 H1B numbers, that translates to roughly 35,000 NEW H1B applications for 2025 Q4 that will be affected.

Over the next year the expected impact is 85,000 jobs (the cap of 65,000 plus 20K advanced degree holders) and $8.5B in salaries to US workers, assuming that no company is willing to pay the fee, that no role is outsourced, and that the job vacancy is actually filled by a US worker.

I’m not sure what renewals look like if they are also affected by the $100K fee or included in the 85K cap.

deleted by creator

Redox OS is a little baby sprout of grass on the very right

And horoscopes

How climate change threatens coffee production | DW Documentary

There’s some great documentaries about stenophylla, resdiscovering a forgotten strain of coffee that’s resistant to heat.

Coffee and climate change: rediscovering stenophylla

In the video Dr Aaron Davis describes coffee as the “canary in the coalmine, as the litmus for climate change, particularly for woody crops like coffee, cocoa, tea, wine. Crops that have to stay in the ground a long time. And what we’re seeing is that the issues facing coffee also affect many other woody perennial crops”

Tasting The Lost Species That Might Save Coffee - James Hoffman

Saving Coffee From Extinction | Planet Fix | BBC Earth Science

We’ll probably see some issues with stonefruit too:

A couple of years ago, no stone fruits grew in New England. Peach, nectarine, plum, and apricot trees in the region had been fooled into flowering in February because of record warm weather. When winter resumed for another few weeks, the buds died, ruining the harvest.

Its possible some wires got crossed behind scenes, some database/software mixup.

Maybe email proton support if you’re concerned? I’ve had some similar mixup happen with banking and they got it all sorted after I complained (I was getting emails intended for someone else).

Edit: either way, I think you should let them know in case its phishing or something broken on their end.

That is their official email address. Did you make an Alias or something and you forgot?

Help me Futo’s Louis Rossmann, you’re my only hope.

Consumer Action Taskforce! aka CAT

Agreed. I live in Japan and self censor what I say online, avoid leaving negative but truthful business reviews, because there is a very real risk of being sued for libel.

Yes, if you only consider the letter of the law. But the spirit of the law and the pro-business, pro-those-in-power courts rarely rule in the individual’s favor. The laws weren’t made for you the individual.

Don’t Get Sued! Libel, Slander, and Defamation Laws in Japan

More relevant discussion here about the concept of face.

edit: Key comment here:

“The law in Japan has a cultural and legal background in much older laws about “damage to honour”. Anything that damages someone’s social standing, regardless of whether a specific claim is being made, is not on and is liable to be considered defamatory. Further, the lack of a specific claim makes the “truth and public interest” bar much, much harder to meet since you can’t claim that your statement was truthful or in the public interest if there’s no specific claim the business or person can respond to. If you’re just being insulting you’re one a one-way trip to a legal spanking.”

I live in Japan and self censor what I say online, avoid leaving negative but truthful business reviews, because there is a very real risk of being sued for libel.

Edit 2: I dug up some China specific info: “In Understanding and Application of the 1993 Answers, the SPC [Supreme People’s Court] clarified that truth was NOT a defense to defamation. If a work insults and damages a person’s reputation, it is defamatory even if true.”

I’m having trouble finding more info about the specifics of the ruling in the Tesla case (AP, CBS, English media don’t provide any info), but I’d bet my dollarydoos that the ruling relates to the Chinese civil code concerning the rights of ‘reputation’ and ‘honor’ of Tesla being infringed in this instance. The AP article misses a lot of this nuance and detail, which is unfortunate. Something like The Atlantic or the Economist, Foreign Affairs (or NYT 20 years ago) with long form articles and investigative journalism from the days of old might have provided this detail, but these days BBC, CNN, et al care more about click-thru rates so we don’t get the full picture.

Japan has similar laws curbing free speech. It comes down to the east asian concept concept of ‘face’.

In sociology, face refers to a class of behaviors and customs, associated with the morality, honor, and authority of an individual (or group of individuals), and their image within social groups. Face is linked to the dignity and prestige that a person enjoys in terms of their social relationships.

Japan’s defamation/libel laws, similar to this Tesla case China, don’t matter if what you said is true. What matters is that you disrespected the ‘face’ and reputation of those in power.

“(1) A person who defames another by alleging facts in public shall, regardless of whether such facts are true or false, be punished by imprisonment with or without work for not more than three (3) years or a fine of not more than 500,000 yen.”

For example, if a news agency reports on a rapist, or an individual puts up a bad review online: it doesn’t matter if it is true. The ‘victim’ sues you for libel/defamation for speaking the truth because you didn’t “give them face” and you hurt their public reputation. Expect the police to come knocking and ask you to remove your truthful reviews, or you risk jail time or civil penalties.

Edit:

The judicial system in China is fucked up beyond repair.

I suspect the judicial system here is working exactly as intended. Its the laws in Japan/China that are fucked when it comes to free speech vs protecting the ‘face’ of those in power.

Edit 2: I dug up some China specific info: “In Understanding and Application of the 1993 Answers, the SPC [Supreme People’s Court] clarified that truth was NOT a defense to defamation. If a work insults and damages a person’s reputation, it is defamatory even if true.”

I’m having trouble finding more info about the specifics of the ruling in the Tesla case (AP, CBS, English media don’t provide any info), but I’d bet my dollarydoos that the ruling relates to the Chinese civil code concerning the rights of ‘reputation’ and ‘honor’ of Tesla being infringed in this instance. The AP article misses a lot of this nuance and detail, which is unfortunate. Something like The Atlantic or the Economist, Foreign Affairs (or NYT 20 years ago) with long form articles and investigative journalism from the days of old might have provided this detail, but these days BBC, CNN, et al care more about click-thru rates so we don’t get the full picture.