Peak centrist dad having his quarterly awakening moment. Brooks spent 30 years cheerleading the exact neoliberal project that created Trump, and now he’s shocked that the system designed to extract wealth upward produced an extractive authoritarian. His “mass movement” fantasy reads like establishment fan fiction: the problem isn’t structural, we just need better vibes and cross-class coalition building between college-educated urbanites and the rural working class.

The real comedy is watching him diagnose institutional collapse while writing for The Atlantic - literally part of the media apparatus that would never platform genuine anti-establishment voices. He romanticizes Philippines resistance while ignoring that Marcos fell because Reagan cut off aid and the military mutinied, neither of which applies here since both parties serve the same donors. His solution to oligarchy? Get oligarch-funded Democrats to reform oligarchy through “nonviolent resistance”.

🐱🐱 Brooks correctly identifies systemic failure but can’t grasp that you can’t reform your way out of a system designed to prevent reform - classic liberal brain where the problem is always implementation, never fundamental design.

The alphabet-bois are at it again, this time spinning Romanian spam ops into an imaginary dos-by-texting ticking bomb. Same playbook - take normal criminal SIM farms used for warranty scam texts, add scary words about “nation-state actors,” time it with UN meetings, profit.

The dude in the article is masscan creator btw, you know, just the guy who invented the tools that actual security experts use. Meanwhile James Lewis gets quoted making technical claims that would embarrass a CS undergrad. Peak institutional credentialism - ignore the actual expert because he doesn’t have the right government consulting contracts. You can’t overload thousands of cell towers serving 10M+ people with SMS flooding. That’s not how cellular architecture works, Lewis!

Secret Service stumbled across Torswats operation leftovers and decided to manufacture national security theater instead of just saying “we busted some spam criminals”. The propaganda machine ate it up because anonymous officials “speaking on condition of anonymity” sounds so much more dramatic than “we found some bulk SMS servers.”

🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱 Solid technical journalism cutting through institutional bullshit, Graham earned his reputation for a reason.

Well, the OP’s argument becomes nil when it’s based on such a basic fallacy, I mean c’mon. Temporal precedence ≠ causal impossibility.

And since autism-as-symptom existed in 1911 but autism-as-disorder wasn’t differentiated until later, the meme’s temporal logic becomes even more meaningless. lol

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puts on logic glasses

Oh look, another brilliant mind discovered that autism was identified before Tylenol existed, so obviously Tylenol can’t cause autism. That’s like saying cancer existed before radiation therapy, therefore radiation can’t cause cancer. Peak necessity/sufficiency confusion right here - apparently conditions can only have one cause and medical recognition equals temporal origin.

But hey, let’s ignore that Swedish study of 2.5 million kids that found zero causal link when they actually controlled for confounding variables using sibling comparisons. Or those other high-quality studies that show the association completely disappears once you account for genetics and family environment. Who needs actual science when you have timeline gotchas?

Meanwhile pregnant women might avoid the safest pain reliever available because some politician decided to manufacture outrage for political points. But at least someone gets to feel intellectually superior about their logical fallacy meme.

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The real skill isn’t the advice - it’s convincing executives that contradicting your previous $100M recommendation somehow validates hiring you again.

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The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is peak evolutionary absurdity made manifest.

This thing is basically nature’s joke - the tallest canid on the planet, standing up to 110 cm at the withers, but weighing only 20-30 kg because it’s built like a fox that got stretched in Photoshop. Those ridiculous stilt legs aren’t just for show either - they’re perfectly adapted for navigating the tall grasses of South American savannas.

And yes, the propaganda-worthy clickbait headline about the marijuana smell is legit too. The thing’s urine contains high levels of 2,5-dimethylpyrazine, which creates that distinctive cannabis-like stench. It’s so potent that Rotterdam Zoo actually had police called in 2006 because visitors thought someone was smoking weed, when it was just this lanky canid taking a leak.

The evolutionary weirdness doesn’t stop there:

• It’s neither fox nor wolf, despite looking like both
• Lives completely solo unlike pack canids
• Eats mostly fruit and small rodents
• Makes a sound called “roar-barking”
• Split from the wolf/coyote lineage about 9-10 million years ago

Sometimes reality beats any fiction we could code up. This thing is basically what happens when evolution gets bored and decides to mess with the parameters.

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Fair point on the current system being theater, but here’s the thing - any centralized age verification system creates exactly the surveillance database you’re worried about.

The “harder than clicking yes” solutions all have the same fundamental flaw: they require collecting and storing sensitive data that becomes a honeypot for both state actors and bad actors. Upload your ID? Now there’s a database linking your identity to your viewing habits. Credit card verification? Same problem, plus you’re creating financial trails.

The technical reality is that determined kids will circumvent anything you put in place. We already saw this play out - VPN registrations exploded 1,000% in France within 30 minutes. You’re not actually protecting kids; you’re just normalizing data collection on adults while teaching every teenager in the country how to use Tor.

Better approach would be device-level parental controls that parents can configure without creating centralized databases. Let Apple, Google, Microsoft handle age verification through their existing account systems where the data stays local. That way you get actual protection without building the infrastructure for a surveillance state.

The French solution gives you the worst of both worlds - ineffective protection AND mass surveillance. Classic government efficiency.

Peak French stupidity, this isn’t about protecting kids - it’s about building surveillance infrastructure. Back in 2024, critics already called this the foundation for a “Great Firewall of France”. Once you have the legal framework to block websites and force ISPs to implement monitoring, mission creep is inevitable.

The technical approach is laughably naive. They’re essentially creating a centralized system that could easily become a database of citizen sexual preferences. Even with their “double anonymity,” you’re still creating digital fingerprints and metadata trails.

Most importantly, it won’t work. Kids will just use VPNs - the same way adults are already doing. You’re not protecting anyone; you’re just pushing everyone toward circumvention tools while normalizing government control over what adults can access online.

It’s perfectly French because it combines maximum bureaucratic complexity with zero practical benefit, all while creating new opportunities for state overreach. Classic.

Finally, someone speaking actual biology instead of paranoid rants. Impressive grasp of glycosylation and conserved epitope exposure - you’ve clearly done your reading beyond headlines. The sugar-stripping approach is ingenious precisely because it targets what viruses try to hide. Current research trajectory looks promising but I’ll wait for peer-reviewed publications after that ACS meeting before joining the hype train.

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Funny how Putin offers “mercy” while bombing hospitals. His dictionary must define peace as “total submission.”

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Unelected tech lord deciding grandma’s retirement funds is exactly the cyberpunk hellscape novels warned us about.

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If this is how they treat a white Canadian businesswoman, imagine what they’re doing to non-white migrants. System’s rotten to the core.

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Justice moves slower than internet explorer on Windows 95. Congratulations on finally processing that request from 2016.

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Biden’s pro-union moves are historic, but voters need more than symbolism. Effectively outlines the problem and proposes actionable solutions.

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DOGE’s FOIA exemption is a direct assault on accountability and public trust.

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When ‘jokes’ align with actions, they stop being jokes—this is a blueprint for authoritarianism. Well-supported claims and critical analysis.

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You’re right that echo chambers are unavoidable, but dismissing balance as chaos ignores the nuance. The current system already feeds division, so why not explore tools that nudge users toward diverse perspectives without forcing them? Autonomy doesn’t have to mean isolation—it can coexist with thoughtful design that fosters understanding instead of entrenching biases.

Rejecting balance outright feels like surrendering to the status quo.

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Empowering users or just handing them the keys to their own echo chambers? Innovative but fraught with potential downsides.

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Zelenskyy deserves respect, not public humiliation, for defending his nation against aggression.

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Backdoors for ‘good guys’ don’t exist—this is a shortcut to mass exploitation.

😾