yellowstoneten

[yellowstoneten]

On The Propriety Of Punching Nazis, An FAQ

[Not mine - it’s from here, at the blog Thoughts On The Dead - just too good not to quote in its entirety.]

Can I punch Nazis?

I don’t know. Can you?

I am capable of the act, yes.

Then you should.

May I?

The answer to that is also yes.

My mother told me that violence was never the answer.

My mother told me I was handsome; you can’t always listen to your mother.

What happened to letting the other guy throw the first punch?

Nazis don’t throw the first punch. Nazis burn the first Reichstag.

Aren’t the Left supposed to be the tolerant ones?

Supposed to be the smart ones, too, but they keep falling for that “I thought you were supposed to be the tolerant ones” horseshit.

What about dialogue?

Dialogue is for reasonable people acting in good faith. Dialogue is between two acceptable positions. “Taxes need to be raised” vs. “taxes need to be lowered” is grounds for dialogue. “Taxes need to be raised” vs. “Jews should be thrown in ovens” is grounds for a beating.

But isn’t this sinking to their level?

That depends. After you punch the Nazi, do you espouse the tenets of National Socialism?

No.

Then you’re better than a Nazi.

But doesn’t this just give the other side ammunition?

The other side in this argument are lying fucks who can twist any piece of information into a swastika-shaped balloon animal if you engage them in good faith; lacking a piece of information, they’ll just make shit up. Might as well punch a Nazi.

What about peace, love, and understanding?

Great goals, and once we get rid of the Nazis we can get to work on them. All three are completely impossible when Nazis are about.

When should you punch a Nazi?

Whenever you get a chance. Preferably when they’re not looking.

What if they’re smaller than you?

Hit them with your fist.

What if they’re bigger?

Hit them with a bat.

Isn’t this a slippery slope?

After we defeated the Nazis in World War II, did we keep shooting people or did the troops come home and start having babies?

The second thing.

There you go. The slippery slope argument is nine times out of ten bullshit. Human beings are good with slippery slopes: we build stairs.

What if you think you’re punching a Nazi, but you just hit a white guy with a shitty haircut?

Run.

What should you do if you hit a Nazi?

You should run then, too. Don’t get me wrong: punching Nazis is still illegal. We’re discussing morality.

But I don’t want to punch anyone.

Then get off your duff, mister, and give aid and support to the boys on the front lines. We’re all in this together. Again.

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Dallas Stars jumbotron dude is on point.

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hahaha.... holy shit they even plagiarized the cake...

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La La Land is so friggin’ good. Go see it. Like, on the largest screen you can.

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Now I’m imagining the wizarding school being like an underfunded public college... academic advisor is like “yes, I know you need Potions 1 for your major, but that class is full already, you’ll just have to take it next year. Should’ve taken AP Potions so you could place out of it.”

listen. i know jk rowling knows absolutely nothing about america but for the entire country to only have a single wizarding school there must be either 200 professors working at this place or you get to your first potions class and it’s held in a fucking baseball stadium.

[yellowstoneten]

An organism with a mouth and an anus is homeomorphic to a torus, isn’t it?

Today’s absurdist missive from Wikipedia: I was in fact there to learn something about the mathematical theorem, but was not prepared for the majesty of all of this.

[yellowstoneten]

I’ve been watching the Project for Awesome livestream for much of the day - they’ve currently raised over $600,000 on Indiegogo in the last 36 hours, and with various matching funds, they’ve raised a total of $1.89 million. We’re in the second half of the livestream, so all funds currently being raised will go to charities voted on by the P4A community (split between the top 20 or so vote-getters). Various community members have put together short videos advocating for their charities, and viewers get to vote on which charities they want to support (even if you can’t donate yourself).

[yellowstoneten]

[yellowstoneten]

Reminds me of the old-school way of measuring the area under NMR graphs back before computerized integration was a thing - you printed out the graph onto specialized paper, used an X-Acto knife to cut out the curve, then weighed it.

I was curious how it was determined that Lebanon, Kansas was the geographic center of the contiguous US. I thought like maybe they measured the amount of land on every side and had it try to match the amount on the opposite side or something that makes sense and is at sounds a little official.

Turns out, “in 1918, the Coast and Geodetic Survey found this location by balancing on a point a cardboard cutout shaped like the U.S. Incredibly, this method was accurate to within twenty miles.”

That is is both very underwhelming and better than any hoity-toity scientific way of figuring it out.

[yellowstoneten]

SNL 11/12/16 | Cold Open - Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton singing “Hallelujah” by the late Leonard Cohen

[yellowstoneten]

Voltaire show in Jacksonville tonight!

[yellowstoneten]

One of the major themes of the history of Native American legal rights in the US - are Native Americans American citizens subject to American jurisdiction like any other American? Or citizens of their tribes subject to tribal jurisdiction? Or some combination of the two? Further discussion below the cut...

For example, the first post about Native Americans not being allowed American citizenship until 1924 isn’t entirely correct. Native Americans could become citizens, but to do so they basically went through a “naturalization” process like foreign immigrants - they gave up claims to tribal land and property, gave up the right to be governed by tribal leaders and courts, agreed to pay taxes to the American government rather than the tribe, etc. The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to all persons “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” and it used to be held that Native Americans who belonged to tribes were under tribal jurisdiction, not American jurisdiction. However, the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 declared that all Native Americans born in the United States are also citizens of the US, without having to give up claims to tribal property.

Regarding the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 - prior to that act, the Bill of Rights was not binding on tribal governments. For instance, if you were a Native American, the federal government couldn’t infringe on your right to free speech, right to counsel, right to a fair trial, etc., but your tribal government could. The ICRA clarified that tribal governments couldn’t restrict basic rights either, although it didn’t extend all Constitutional rights - for example, tribal governments are not required to separate church and state like the federal and state governments are.

The post about Native Americans not being legally allowed to practice their religions until 1978 - that’s a reference to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. Before that law, the US government wasn’t really trying to prohibit Native American religious practice, but at the same time they weren’t trying not to. Peyote is probably the best known example - the federal government had banned it as a hallucinogenic drug, but AIRFA carved out an exception for its use by Native Americans for religious ceremonies. Eagle feathers are another example - it’s illegal to collect them, unless (post-AIRFA) you’re a Native American using them for religious purposes. It also required the federal government to take into account Native American religious beliefs when deciding how to manage public land - can’t block access to sacred places unless there’s a really good reason to do so.

Fun fact

Native Americans weren’t allowed US citizenship until 1924.

Let that sink in. We lived here first…for thousands of years. And less than a hundred years ago we were finally given citizenship.

[yellowstoneten]

I suspect that many of you have watched this already, but just in case you haven’t...

Translation of the letter (via Redditor /u/roughy) at the end of the video below the cut.

To Rin From : Dad There was just so little time left after you were born. I don't know how much love I managed to pour into raising you after your mother died... But your smile kept me going. (^_^)

I would like to have come with you, but I couldn't. I wanted you to forget everything and move on... I knew you'd be alright. But you'll get lonely, and remember.

I know you'll grow strong, and read this letter some day. I really wish we could have spent more time together. I'm sorry. You were so young back then, too young to understand what they meant. So let me repeat...

My final words to you.

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Watch: Michelle Obama’s speech on the Trump tapes should be required viewing for all Americans

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Via Redditor /u/j0be

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By cartoonist Morten Morland of The Times of London.