AliSaket

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 day ago

Add to that ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan who has already been sanctioned by the US back in February for the crime of issuing an arrest warrant for a war criminal.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I've waited 239 races and this is what I get?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm sorry you feel that way and I find myself having the same thoughts from time to time. I have to concede though, that the US is in fact the center of modern Neoliberalism and legal bribery.

Yet... You know who the lobbyists and donors don't bother talking to? Bernie Sanders (and Ron Paul when he was still in office). Why? Because they know that they have core principles. Then the question becomes: How do we organize (meaning financial resources, outreach, strategy, know-how, recruitment, analysis, policy creation, media and many more) to get more of these people into office? And how can we put pressure on elected officials to enact "our" policies?

Agenda 2025, or the decades long judicial take-over did not come from Trump, but from such organizations like the Heritage Foundation. Which of course are funded by billionaires like Peter Thiel. These people and organizations have huge advantages over the rest, that is clear. But they need more than just money to be able to put public pressure on elected officials, to the point where 25% of voters are ride-or-die with that program and a further 25% are at least ok with it or were duped.

And yes, I am well aware it is an uphill fight. But please: Don't let bad experiences doom you to inaction. Especially when this very moment, with the daily over-reach of the republican regime, there is real potential to galvanize an effective resistance.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Although I understand your point and would want to add that something like the Citizens United decision further diminishes power of the people without immense funds, I would like to point out, that participating in a democratic process doesn't merely mean drawing a cross onto a piece of paper every 2 or 4 years. Much more is possible and in fact necessary.

As an example and can be witnessed right now, there is a severe lack of organizing of pro democratic forces. Which is also the result of a decades-long campaign by the capital-interest-serving political establishment to delegitimize or outright destroy such movements and organizations, from worker's unions to independant media to the "Bernie Bros".

Make no mistake though. They did this, because they know, that this type of collective political actions bare real power. It is upon each one of us wanting to defend democracy, basic rights and the rule of law to do our part to take back that power. Voting is but a small part of that, if you don't have the people you need actually running, because they can't afford to and you cannot seriously pressure those elected like the donor-class does.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

Well there's also a different mindset behind voting, if you can directly weigh in on important issues every few months. It's not like in other countries where direct ballot measures are much more rare. But yes, I wished more people would try to participate in a responsible manner.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (5 children)

Fully agree with Nina Turner. If you don't wanna do politics, you blindly leave major decisions over your life to others, who - as we can see world-wide - don't necessarily have your interest at heart. Democracy, human rights, freedom or any other such ideas require a populace to vigilantly fight for them and not let those with opposed agendas undermine them.

But that analogy afterwards is simply dishonest on many levels.

Firstly, if you are talking about "harm reduction" or the "lesser of two evils", ice cream is hardly a fair representation of the lesser evil.

Secondly this mixes in non-political people, who do not participate in the democratic process with moral objectors and the duped.

Thirdly: It diverts equal blame (literally in the response) to those groups and to the voters, who actually want the bigger evil or the powerful actors enacting it. This presupposes some moral value on active vs. passive behavior, which can be argued.

And lastly: Even if we find a fitting ice-cream substitute like throwing one of the passengers under the still moving bus, or - how another user suggested - braking before driving off the same cliff: The two who voted for that lesser evil also fight the four voters who are against evil harder, than they are fighting the ones who want the bigger evil. Why? Because they'd rather still drive off the cliff than not. And then they turn around and dishonestly shame the anti-driving-off the-cliff crowd for wanting to speed up instead. That is not a very good strategy.

Are they the same? No. But please keep your arguments honest, or you might get the exact opposite reaction from people, than you are hoping.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

From Mirriam Webster:

terror, noun, plural: terrors

(...)

  1. violence or the threat of violence used as a weapon of intimidation or coercion

a regime that rules by terror

especially : violent or destructive acts (such as bombing) committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands

an act of terror

the war on terror

-> sometimes used before another noun

a terror attack

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago

Several senators commented on the incident, questioning Alderan's intentions, since they still don't seem to want to return to the negotiating table.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

Stupid reason for a ban, but I assume revolutionary means that it came to exist out of the islamic revolution in 1979 and is independent from the US empire as opposed to the former one under Reza Pahlavi which came to being out of a CIA/MI6 coup in 1953 and was a puppet regime to the West. Not really an inaccurate description.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Die Hauptschwäche dieser Staffel ist m.M.n, dass die Autoren vor lauter Antagonisten vergessen haben, einen Protagonisten vorzusehen.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago

Interesting. May I ask where the data is from? From the picture there seem to be more demographics available.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago

Let's reverse roles for a second. You're the employer. What reasons would there be, for you to advertise an opening? Could your primary motivation possibly be paying people money? (Rhetorical question) Considering you already have a team, what kind of person do you want to fill the position? What profile should they have? And how would their motivation reflect on their expected performance?

P.S. I'm not saying, not to talk about money, but there's a time for talking about that vs. finding out, whether you're a fit. And answering a question about your main motivation on why you want to be part of their team with money, doesn't reflect well on you or any expectations of you.

 

Two 10-second penalties were given to Max after the two incidents in T4 and T8 of the 10th lap of the Mexico GP last Sunday. Additionally, 2 penalty points are added to Max' license which brings the total to 6 during 12 months. If I were to ask you, which of the two incidents would merit the 2 penalty points more, would you have guessed, it's the T4 incident?

In their official document of the T4 incident, the stewards are of the impression, that Lando was in front of Max 'at the entry, apex and towards the exit of the turn when he started being forced off the track' and that Lando would have been able to stay on track to finish the maneuver. (Sidenote: Horner's argument, that one would take the same lines and braking points during a fastest lap and when going wheel to wheel is laughable on its face.) The standard penalty for forcing another driver of the track has been applied. I can't see any problems with the reasoning in this case.

Now for the T8 incident:
'Following the incident in Turn 4, Verstappen attempted to pass Norris on the inside at Turn 8. Verstappen was ahead at the apex of Turn 8 and would have been entitled to racing room.' It is only because he didn't stay on track while doing all this shenanigans and then stayed in front, that he got a 10 second penalty without penalty points, which is the standard penalty for 'Leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage'. It is not for forcing off another driver, or for provoking a crash (which Lando barely avoided).

And there lies the problem with the current driving standards guidelines. The only one available somewhere is a version from the Imola GP of 2022 (so they might be slightly out-of-date). On the second point of overtaking on the outside, they read:

'In order for a car being overtaken to be required to give sufficient room to an overtaking car, the overtaking car needs to have a significant portion of the car alongside the car being overtaken and the overtaking manoeuvre must be done in a safe and controlled manner, while enabling the car to clearly remain within the limits of the track.

When considering what is a ‘significant portion’, for an overtaking on the outside of a corner, among the various factors that will be looked at by the stewards when exercising their discretion, the stewards will consider if the overtaking car is ahead of the other car from the apex of the corner.

The car being overtaken must be capable of making the corner while remaining within the limits of the track.'

There's 3 problems with this.

  1. It just makes it a race to the apex, which is in itself ill-defined. A quick part-fix: They could clarify it ahead of each weekend, e.g. given the ideal line for a quali lap. If you overtake on the outside, you'll have to get ahead by that apex and still remain on the track. If overtaking on the inside, make sure the 'front tires are alongside the other car by no later than the apex' and you are entitled to 'sufficient room'. If not, you can be forced off track, or the door closed on you respectively. Doesn't read too bad if not for the imprecise definition, the bias towards the inside car (front tires alongside the other car vs. ahead of the other car) and that it only works in one direction (if I overtake someone on the inside and got my tires alongside the sidepod of the one overtaken, I have to do it in a safe manner, but can crowd them off the track depending on the interpretation).

  2. the last part of the overtaken car having to be capable of making the corner has just been ignored until that T4 incident. For a recent example: The US GP. The 'gaining an advantage' is not well defined at all ('This may include giving back the timing advantage up to drop back a position behind the relevant driver') and should imho be explicitely extended by being able to hold a position by going off-track.

  3. Causing a collision is regulated in the International Sporting Code, App. L, Article 2.d). There is nothing about a provocation of a collision which was only avoided by the actions of another driver. So there is a way too large grey area which incentivizes the wronged party to actually make small contact in order for the other driver to get a penalty. And since we aren't playing bumper cars, this should be more clearly regulated, especially since the not leaving 'sufficient room' part has also been criminally negleted over the years.

Now add to all of this the inconsistencies between different stewards, or of the same stewards during the same GP (e.g. TSU penalty vs. VER non-penalty during the US GP a week ago) and we have a completely chaotic situation, where actual racing comes short.

I would love to do an actual deep dive and clip out all relevant incidents back to 2020/21 when Lewis and Fernando brought fourth the same arguments, that seem to have become more clear for a broader audience now that Max is arguably more brazen with his interpretation of the rules and guidelines and others are starting to imitate it. Alas I lack the time. The Mexico and US GPs in 2024 should be more than enough to make the points clear. And it is a positive sign, that the driving standard guidelines will be changed come 2025 and that the drivers had a productive meeting last Friday in Mexico.

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