• @Hobbes_Dent
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    4149 months ago

    When another poster asked, “Isn’t it possible that this was a deliberate terrorist attack rather than a tragic accident?,” Simon retorted, “It’s possible that you’re a useless shitheel rando on an internet hellsite speculating wildly and without regard to what is already known by authorities in Baltimore. Quick, have someone fund your podcast. You’ll go far.”

    To a poster who called Baltimore a “mismanaged, failed state,” Simon offered a well-worded correction: “The port is a state-run entity and nothing whatsoever to do with Baltimore municipal government, you absolute submoron.”

    To Anthony Sabatini, the former Florida congressman who wrote “DEI did this” – referring to diversity, equity and inclusion – Simon took no prisoners. “Your mother did you, but after a hard life of service on a truck-stop lot, can we really hold her loosened, battered womb responsible for dropping you head-first on the Winnebago floor and burdening our society with another empty, racist demagogue thereafter? We cannot.”

    • @someguy3
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      1979 months ago

      If this is indicative of The Wire, I should watch it.

      • TWeaK
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        779 months ago

        Sheeeeeeeit. You should definitely watch it.

        Idris Elba started out on it. As did Dominic West (Prince Charles in The Crown), and Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger in Game of Thrones). And Michael Kenneth Williams had some choice parts, he was always great.

      • SeaJ
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        709 months ago

        Yes. Yes you should. It is a very realistic portrayal of crime, politics, and the police in Baltimore.

        • @NewNewAccount
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          209 months ago

          Not just Baltimore. It represents most major American cities and their institutions.

      • ivanafterall
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        429 months ago

        I envy your first watch. It’s an incredible show. Only one I personally rank a slight notch higher is Deadwood.

        • @rdyoung
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          89 months ago

          What about the shield?

          • @jumjummy
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            149 months ago

            IMHO the shield pales in comparison to the Wire. The wire is up there as one of my favorite shows of all time and I couldn’t really get into The Shield.

            • @rdyoung
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              I had a tough time as well, I think it was the slow burn intro and the shaky camera work (that is actually technique). Try it again and it is most definitely some of the best television of all time. Right up there with breaking bad as well.

          • @[email protected]
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            59 months ago

            The Shield is very different. LA and Baltimore are very different culturally and it shows in the final product. The Shield also focuses on the one squad while The Wire is about the city of Baltimore. Of the two, I personally think The Shield is a little more cartoonish, so The Wire wins out, but The Shield is still excellent.

            • @rdyoung
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              9 months ago

              Yes it is different but so is Breaking Bad, Bojack Horseman, Futurama, etc. Shows/movies can be different and still be equal in quality.

              I’m still going to say that The Shield is up there with the others in quality, regardless of the differing topics and story. I don’t want to watch the same movie or TV show over and over with a different cast and slightly different story line.

              • @[email protected]
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                19 months ago

                I’m not sure how this in any way contradicts what I said. I’m not saying only watch The Wire, I’m saying between The Wire and The Shield, having seen both, I prefer The Wire, but they’re also very different so it’s not a good comparison.

                • @rdyoung
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                  -19 months ago

                  I’m always amazed at the lack of conversational ability these days.

                  You have a nice day now.

        • @[email protected]
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          Both shows are at the top but Deadwood’s dialogue has a deliberate rhythm to it that is unmatched. If you get on it’s wave length you’re in for a treat. I watch it at least once a year and never grow tired of it.

          David Milch the creator details his thought process on the rhythm of the dialogue and the push back he got with use of obscenity here: https://youtu.be/F2qk7W8_KLE?si=LxeRNs2N_-kzKiGb&t=1196 (20:01) Once he’s done answering that question (around 29:00) i’d stop watching if you haven’t seen Deadwood as there are spoilers later in the talk.

            • @[email protected]
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              29 months ago

              Right, I think he had a lot more in the tank that we never got to see.

              For years I was upset that Deadwood never had a fourth season. When I learned more about Milch and listened to his recent memoir that came out in 2022 I was just glad those first 3 seasons made it to air.

              Many people don’t survive all the drugs, family problems and a gambling addiction that he had going for him.

              It would be cool to see the alternative universe where the other frat member becomes president or the one where Deadwood doesn’t get cancelled but this one could be a lot worse really.

          • @NewNewAccount
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            59 months ago

            Deadwood is better imo. But I don’t think Battlestar Galactica fans would necessarily agree.

            Regardless, give it a shot!

          • @IchNichtenLichten
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            59 months ago

            Deadwood is the best written, most humane and complex drama I’ve seen on TV. Watch with subtitles because Milch is a genius and you don’t want to miss anything.

            • @[email protected]
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              And you might still miss some things the first time but it makes rewatches even better. I rarely feel the desire to rewatch shows, even good ones, Deadwood is the exception.

              Hell even the set is amazing because the background extras took their roles so seriously, listening to the commentary tracks the lead actors noted that the background extras/actors developed their own routines and really made the camp come to life.

              It had more of a living history museum or renaissance fair vibe than that of a stale set. Everyone invovled with the project had passion for their role no matter how small.

          • @[email protected]
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            39 months ago

            BSG is a very different show but there might be some crossover between the fanbases. Deadwood is legacy HBO, the quality and depth of cast is on another level compared to what the scifi channel had at the time.

            It’s also endlessly quotable, that’s one thing I miss about reddit is the small /r/Deadwood sub. You’ll see some general “cocksucka” quotes in the wild but that sub has multiple rewatches under their belt and uses the full range. I have to revist some posts there everytime I rewatch it.

            Anyway, here’s one of my favorites from Wild Bill in S01E04: https://webm.red/view/cn5t.webm

          • ivanafterall
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            39 months ago

            Deadwood is the closest a TV show has gotten to reading a rich, classic work of literature, to me. I’ve watched the entire series three times in about as many years.

      • @kaitco
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        329 months ago

        Dude! The Wire is the one of the best shows ever created! Watch on Max, rent DVDs from the library, or just do some normal piracy. You owe yourself a watch of The Wire.

        Absolutely brilliant show. And yes, this is indicative of The Wire. 😅

      • @Tyfud
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        269 months ago

        You absolutely should.

      • fiat_lux
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        179 months ago

        I finally gave in and watched it after multiple independent recommendations from people who had strong educated opinions on quality nuanced literature and media. The last series sort of declined a bit, but overall I was in no way disappointed. It was exceptionally well done, and importantly for me, not too watered down with tired tropes, stereotyped single dimensional characters, painfully predictable plots and neatly tidied moral threads.

        I mean, there were definitely some, but, it’s TV. It holds up extremely well even with age.

        • @Frozengyro
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          69 months ago

          It’s also had such a large cultural influence, many of those tropes come from it.

      • @Botzo
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        109 months ago

        You’re going to love Jay Landsman’s (Delaney Williams) lines.

      • @SlapnutsGT
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        59 months ago

        You should. I’ve been binging it the past few weeks and it’s amazing.

    • @Oderus
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      349 months ago

      Damn that’s savage.

    • @Late2TheParty
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      219 months ago

      I wish I had a mastery of the English language even half as good as this man. There’s fucking POETRY in this!

    • @Tylerdurdon
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      189 months ago

      Holy shit man, that guy rips! I almost want to go piss him off to get my own!

    • Optional
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      179 months ago

      Goddamn. Glorious.

    • magnetosphere
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      Those replies, especially the last one, are worthy of a Pulitzer.

    • prole
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      149 months ago

      Good God, someone call the Hague

    • @just_change_it
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      669 months ago

      Slow your roll captain conspiracy. That sounds like lunacy.

      It’s way more likely that illegal aliens transported this ship under the cover of night to cover up the melting of the steel beams by jet fuel. They don’t just crumple like that on their own after all. We’ve known all along these cargo containers are hollow on the inside.

      • @someguy3
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        19 months ago

        “Must have been the border.”

    • @Leviathan
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      129 months ago

      We really need to bring back the true meaning of conspiracy, because these “conspiracy theories” just serve to distract the public from the wrongdoings of the capitalist class.

    • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod
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      99 months ago

      Casual Navigation has (amazingly) already made a video about this accident and hypothesizes that the geography of the channels in the harbor may have pulled it to starboard. Had they not lost power they could have corrected, but it looks like happened at the worst possible moment.

      • Captain Aggravated
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        29 months ago

        Alarmingly fast, he put out that video. I don’t know how you’d edit it that fast.

    • Lev_Astov
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      69 months ago

      Believe it or not, the insurance companies drive maritime safety requirements since they hate having to pay out for things like this. The classification societies that regulate and inspect ships to approve for insurance coverage have very strict and well thought out safety requirements that get better any time a new failure mode is discovered.

      I personally think this one was human error in an emergency situation.

      Theory: They lost primary electric service and began a slight drift to starboard. When they got backup power online, they began a crash reverse to slow down. This would hinder rudder control since the ship was still going forward and now just creating turbulence with the prop. Reverse would torque the stern to port, swinging the bow to starboard, as we saw. The bow thruster was offline due to the power issues.

      • @[email protected]
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        39 months ago

        from the photos that I saw thismorning she had also dropped a bow anchor, my thoughts are if this was done when the bow had already began its drift to starboard that could have swung the stern even more to port.

        At least they called in in

      • Captain Aggravated
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        29 months ago

        Insurance companies, being for-profit institutions, are poorly suited to manage industry safety.

        As for theories as to exactly what happened in terms of “the power failure caused the rudder to remain 4 degrees to port and stopped the bow thruster, causing the ship to veer off course” or whatever…I’ll wait until Brick Immortar reads me the NTSB report.

        Being a pilot (as in an airplane driver, not a harbor pilot) as long as I have, I’ve had this conversation a lot:

        “Did you see that airplane crash in the news?”

        “No.”

        “Here look:” 3 seconds to look at a hastily googled headline and a badly taken photo of what looks like a mangled Piper Cherokee wing sticking up from behind something “What do you think happened?”

  • fiat_lux
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    1229 months ago

    I don’t consider a TV producer insulting a (obviously terrible) politician to be news, but I do enjoy this particular insult. It’s nicely crafted. It’s a pity he continues to use Twitter.

    • roguetrick
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      559 months ago

      He’s a chronicler of Baltimore’s underbelly. He’s a subject matter expert of Baltimore and graft.

      • fiat_lux
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        139 months ago

        For sure, but insults are just (nicely crafted in this case) words, and unless the insulter is in a certain position, they ultimately don’t affect much. It’s not like Simon’s statement is going to change Baltimore policy or shipping or things for the citizens, or Greene’s actions. And it’s not like Greene will be able to make funding decisions about Baltimore or declare war on the city.

        Like, I enjoy some dramatic shit-slinging, but I wish “news” were more about objective things happening than someone expressing an opinion on social media that doesn’t have any obvious real consequences for anyone.

  • @BilboBargains
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    1189 months ago

    How is it that we’ve created a society where scientists are subordinate to lying narcissists and psychopaths?

    • @[email protected]
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      This isn’t something new. This is how society has functioned throughout history. Democracy is an ideal, but no country is truly democratic. Show me a country where the parliament or whatever legislative and executive bodies they have is truly made up of common people voted by their peers, and not part of the upper class.

      • @[email protected]
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        39 months ago

        Ireland has a political elite, like most other countries. However, many of our politicians are ordinary people too… There are teachers, doctors, farmers etc mixed among the lawyers. Due to proportionak representative democracy, there are also one issue candidates who her elected for campaigning on things like special needs or other issues.

        When K moved to Australia, I was quite surprised to find that nearly every politician was a lawyer by trade.

        • @[email protected]
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          39 months ago

          I don’t think Switzerland meets the definition given by @[email protected] but there is the element of direct democracy, where any citizen can create a petition and if they get enough signatures it will go to a referendum, although ultimately it is up to the politicians to implement the results of the referenda.

    • @Cosmicomical
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      69 months ago

      And corporations, because of the money. These aspects impact choice of research directions and results so much that I feel like rectifying them would be enough to start a new scientific revolution.

  • @[email protected]
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    1099 months ago

    The fuck? There are conspiracies about this already even though there was a live stream of it? What the fuck is wrong with people?

      • @twack
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        And religion + racism + fear of the unknown + social echo chambers can all be exploited. Remember that MTG floated a few years ago that space lasers caused California forest fires. Never mind the power requirements and ridiculousness that would require.

        I think the woman is dangerous as hell, but I don’t think she’s stupid. I think she uses dumb ideas to mobilize an ignorant base.

        • prole
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          169 months ago

          You give her far too much credit, she’s incredibly stupid. The people who feed her this bullshit might not be, but she is.

        • nifty
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          but I don’t think she’s stupid. I think she uses dumb ideas to mobilize an ignorant base.

          No, she’s pretty stupid. If she wasn’t, she’d be Steve Bannon or something similar, but instead she’s the amalgamation of crazy stupid that she is

        • @captainlezbian
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          59 months ago

          Idk I think she’s stupid but I don’t think that makes her unwilling of a participant in her evil or less dangerous. She’s the voice of the bigoted idiots of America rather than someone selling to them.

        • @Gabu
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          29 months ago

          MTG

          Damn, Magic The Gathering has really let itself go

          • Optional
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            19 months ago

            She’s gooned on the juice!

    • @[email protected]
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      419 months ago

      Most of the conspiracies I’ve seen are related to the fact that there were live streams of it.

      Some people are just unfamiliar with the fact that there are webcams streaming 24/7 in cities all over the world.

    • @[email protected]
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      309 months ago

      When you’re trapped in the phantasm of conspiratorial thinking you’ll try to map any event that makes you feel something into that crooked framework.

      It’s incredibly said when it’s involuntary, because it shows how damaged a person’s reasoning faculties have become. It’s infuriating when it’s done by assholes who use it knowingly to manipulate others.

    • @JamesTBagg
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      There were conspiracies the morning of. I asked if anyone at work had seen it, about 9 California time, they hadn’t but soon after seeing pictures and video some of these guys were calling for a conspiracy.
      So I leaned into it. Yeah Republicans refuse to fund infrastructure maintenance, so the conspiracy is get shipping companies to ram dilapidated bridges so their insurances fund the rebuilds.

      • @[email protected]
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        79 months ago

        The Key Bridge isn’t even that bad. There are WAY worse bridges. Just roll down the water a few miles and go after the Bay Bridge near Annapolis, for example. I’m still irritated that as bad as that pair of bridges is, there’s STILL no long term plan for replacement. We’ve been talking about it for at least a decade now.

        One two lane bridge (circa 1952), and one three lane bridge (1973) with a lane that is often set to the reverse direction - without barriers! No shoulders at all. You break down, you’re in the lane. People freeze up from fear driving over it, and I really don’t blame them - I’ve never had an issue, but there is little to block your view of water almost straight down out the side of the vehicle. Don’t forget the metal grate section that gets nice and slick in any sort of wet weather. And they carry far more traffic than they were ever expected to handle. Oh and there are often high winds that add to the fun.

        • @[email protected]
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          19 months ago

          The Mackinac Bridge is exactly the same. Built in 1957, with one concrete and one metal grate lane in both directions, and in winter, it’s sheer ice. It’s so long over a strait prone to high winds, you can feel the sway. I’ve had panic attacks halfway over it as a passenger – and I’m always a passenger even if I was driving in the lead-up because it scares me so much, I was too terrified my first time driving across it and was shaking so badly, I could barely steer. Maybe I’m a pussy, and they say it’s well-maintained, but I’ve read Michigan DOT’s state-wide bridge health report, and it’s less than exemplary.

          • @[email protected]
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            19 months ago

            I have driven over that bridge as well and it’s definitely a scary one. Especially since part of it is that metal grating which gets slick in any kind of humidity.

            But for me the Bay Bridges is worse (and I’ve driven the Bay Bridge many times, and the Mac only once - so you’d think familiarity would kick in). The Mac has the other lanes in sight, so it doesn’t seem as crazy small. Also, the Mac doesn’t climb as far over the water as the Bay Bridges do.

            I actually compare the Bay Bridge more closely to the old bridges in Charleston, SC that connected downtown Charleston to Mount Pleasant. The Grace and Pearlman bridges were quite exciting, the Grace was like a roller coaster. Like the Bay Bridges, the Grace had 2 lanes and the Pearlman had 3, one of which served as a reverse lane for trucks since the Grace couldn’t handle them. They didn’t have the height over the water that the Bay Bridge does (based on my memory), though. Those bridges weren’t replaced until 2005.

    • @ours
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      119 months ago

      Sadly truth doesn’t seem to matter anymore to a large group of people. As long as it matches their worldview they’ll just take anything at face value.

    • Lev_Astov
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      69 months ago

      Human error is a far more reasonable explanation than complicated conspiracies, but I understand the thought. It really looked like that ship aimed for the bridge. Planning such a conspiracy would be far, far harder and more expensive to pull off than simple bridge failure, though.

    • @SulaymanF
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      49 months ago

      People who dropped out of high school and think they never needed to learn physics are all watching the video and thinking, “why would a bridge fall THAT way?” and then blaming Biden because that’s what Fox and Newsmax keyed them into blaming.

    • @John_McMurray
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      -89 months ago

      There’s not. A media personality is creating that impression for future use.

  • @Fapper_McFapper
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    799 months ago

    Anthony Sabatini got murdered. Condolences to his truck stop mother.

    • @[email protected]
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      279 months ago

      To Anthony Sabatini, the former Florida congressman who wrote “DEI did this” – referring to diversity, equity and inclusion – Simon took no prisoners. “Your mother did you, but after a hard life of service on a truck-stop lot, can we really hold her loosened, battered womb responsible for dropping you head-first on the Winnebago floor and burdening our society with another empty, racist demagogue thereafter? We cannot.”

      Holy fuck, don’t get on Simon’s bad side. That was a solar flare level burn.

  • @Snapz
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    699 months ago

    The captain of the ship was Captain Ray Turner… That’s right, C.R.T. You can’t make this shit up.

    I mean I made it up, but you can’t.

    • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod
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      69 months ago

      Didn’t you get the memo? CRT is the old racist dogwhistle. Now they’re going after DEI: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

      • @Snapz
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        69 months ago

        Weird that you say that, because I didn’t even make the connection - the ship’s doctor… Dr. Erica Ingold. D.E.I.

        I wish I was joking, dude… And oh, look? My wish came true!

  • @[email protected]
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    599 months ago

    They’re starting to claim it was the fault of “DEI”. That’s their new thing, whenever any accident happens of any kind its the fault of “DEI”, by which they mean its the fault of minorities having jobs. How convenient that all the failures of poor management and cut corners due to profit seeking can so neatly be blamed on minorities they want to discriminate against.

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      They’re claiming that the Black mayor of Baltimore was a “DEI hire”, which is an absolutely bonkers thing to say about an elected official.

      • @captainlezbian
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        79 months ago

        Much less the mayor of fucking Baltimore. It’s an extremely historically black city. If the mayor of Baltimore was a WASP that would be weird

    • @[email protected]
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      There will always be an “other” for them to blame. They’ll invent one any time they run out of “acceptable” ones in the eyes of the public.

      “We have always been at war with eastasia”

    • @captainlezbian
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      69 months ago

      It’s not minorities having jobs, it’s minorities having good jobs. They don’t like that there are brown and queer people doing shit they want. Like why the hell am I, a trans woman, an engineer and not them? It must be DEI because it definitely isn’t that I chose to attend a college that barely even requires a pulse to attempt their engineering program and then dedicaed 5 years of my life, countless hours of work, and large sums of money to it.

  • @cabron_offsets
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    469 months ago

    It is high time that we rid ourselves of these carnival barkers.

    • @[email protected]
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      That’s not what a pratfall means though?

      Its two word put together, prat and fall. It means to PURPOSEFULLY trip up but make it look like you are clumsy.

      It’s a “stage” thing and done by clowns and actors generally.

      • @Sterile_Technique
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        59 months ago

        Guessing it’s one of those context-specific things- some words have wildly different meanings depending on how/when it’s used.

  • Flying Squid
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    299 months ago

    I assume Madge blames the Jewish space lasers again.

    • @[email protected]
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      59 months ago

      Excuse me, it’s the Jewish navy and their stealth submarines powered by radioactive gold. They’re coming for our freedumb, and our kids.

  • t�m
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    199 months ago

    someone is trying to fight back against the misinformation tide.

  • TWeaK
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    179 months ago

    I don’t think anyone would ever own up to creating Greene, she must be an accident. Like when a man jerks off in a cinema and a woman sits on the seat after.

  • @doublejay1999
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    179 months ago

    David Simon goes hard and I wish he’d do it more often.