Notices by The Dread Slender Gnome (gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz), page 3

... he was trying to engage people in debate, and didn't peddle violence or advocated for the dismantling of democracy. ... He was partaking in the liberal democratic process of exercising free speech trying to change people's minds when he was shot.

That's exactly the problem.
I've watched some of Kirks's videos on YT, specifically those in which he talks about the Trans issue. Whatever I may think of any of his views, I never saw him to be anything less than courteous and reasonable towards the people he spoke with.
That such a behaviour can be seen to merit deadly violence as a response, is really, really not a good thing.

@sim @taylan I was just thinking about those comments.
What those people are actually saying is that certain views justify killing a person.

This is no different than islamic fundamentalists saying that leaving islam deserves death. That if you have certain opinions, let alone if you speak them out loud, you have it coming if someone kills you.
Such attitudes are in contradiction with the very idea of free, democratic societies.

@taylan @jeffcliff Sounds like a new market for identity thieves, who buy stolen ID cards or photos of passports.

Photographing someone's ID would be ridiculously fast, and could be done by any customer service person at a place that requires ID. It would be a pretty easy illegal side hustle.

Maybe it would be best if the government weren't lazy and offered the service themselves.

It seems to me this still wouldn't remove the incentive to illicitly photograph other people's IDs and sell those photos to criminals, who would then sell them further. The weak point would be the user uploading A photo of AN ID, and there not being a way to ascertain the authenticity of the ID.

The only way to verify an ID's authenticity, whether the system was run by government or not, would be to somehow unequivocally connect the user behind the screen to THIS ID, and there we immediately start having grave privacy concerns.

Granted, online systems already exist that have such privacy concerns, like online shopping (my online banking being directly connected to me), but I think there's a good argument that as few systems as possible should carry such concerns.

My personal opinion is that the likely outcome is to limit kids' access to smartphones. I'm already seeing noices being made to this effect, and I think it'll be the action many bodies will find easiest to implement.

@TriptychTwinsRidesAgain Owen Jones and now this?

...

Are they FINALLY starting to faintly grasp the 3-metre-high writing on every damn wall?

@FeartnTired I think many of us live in the vain hope that they would actually go and arrest Rowling.

And I bet that includes Rowling herself.

@Flick What? Surrounded by people who are unlike them?
Oh poor dears.
Can't imagine how one could ever manage such a distressing circumstance.

@sim @Flick Exactly!

@KeepTakingTheSoma I know! And I find that reading them through and properly thinking them actually teaches me a lot about my own culture and traditions.

Besides, I've kind of always wanted to be someone who drops proverbs in conversations. With this book, I might have a chance of getting there.

Finnish proverbs: Gifts edition.

Lahja on lainnaa parempi, ilman saatu iki hyvä.

=A gift is better than a loan, if it's free it's forever good

NB: This one was recorded at a municipality where the people are reputed to be the stingiest in the country.

Ei se annak ko luppaa ja se ei luppak ko antaa.

=The one who promises won't give, and the one who gives won't promise

This is also an example of Finnish using the inanimate pronoun "se" in reference to people. In this particular case it's a generic reference to a type of person, not a specific individual (which is also allowe btw).

Sinne kakko kannethan josta toista toivothan.

= One carries a cake to the house from which one wants another.

Suattaahan sitä Pielisen laitoo luvatak.

=I could (just) promise some of the shoreline of [Loch Ness]

The original name is Pielinen, a large lake in Finland's lake region. The implication -I think- being that the speaker either doesn't own any of the shore, or that it's such a big lake that a promise like this is vacuous because who the heck can know if the person has the right to make such promises or not. Could also be used to doubt someone else's promises.
The translation of this sentiment into English is difficult, but the original meaning key lies in the verb "suattoo/saattaa", which means capability or potential. The sentiment would be something like "you can promise anything, even the moon from the sky".

@RadicalCartoons I think the birds look most like seagulls.

And honestly, I think that's appropriate.

I laughed inordinately hard at this. Must be the heat.

@HebrideanHecate Shepherd's pie when you don't have leftover mash and can't be bothered to make any?

@Flick @FeartnTired I expect part of that is because of the length of the video.
26min is a miserably short clip for a deep dive into convoluted logic, and I didn't even realise how short, until I was at 10min and realised he had only introduced his second point there, almost halfway through.

@FeartnTired Ooooo logic analysis.

I'm in.

@KeepTakingTheSoma @MrAndyNgo It's absolutely not a good move. Even thinking from a tactical pov alone.

There's that saying "better to stay silent and let everyone think one is a fool, than to open one's mouth and prove them right".
Shutting someone up by force is essentially doing them a favour.

@mar77i @MrAndyNgo @KeepTakingTheSoma Or:
It's ok when we do it.

@KeepTakingTheSoma @MrAndyNgo That too.
Though Germany has a very specific reason for banning nazi parties.

Having said that, I think I've seen some people suggest that some of the enforcers from the East Germany slotted quite comfortably into the bureaucracy of the unified Germany, and the results can be seen in how willing the state is to do things like this now. I have no way of ascertaining how true that speculation is, though, so treat it as speculation.

My prediction:
If AfD is formally banned, it's only a matter of time before another party rises up in its place.

Designating the party as "right-wing extremists" officially, or even banning it will do nothing to quell the dissatisfaction that drives people to support the party. This is the case, no matter what one may or may not personally feel about the AfD platform.

If AfD is taken out as a channel for that dissatisfaction, the dissatisfaction will just find another channel.

Also, it's amusing to me that I'd bet this is the same people who are against legislating against prostitution by instituting the Nordic model, on the basis that "it will just drive prostitution underground". But the possibility that banning right-edge parties might drive that movement underground - with very much unpredictable consequences - doesn't even seem to be considered.

RT: https://hell.twtr.plus/objects/e57c780e-83c5-4673-8019-dbde1e2d47b2

Oh good grief. Watching Jack Jewell and Eldur Kristinsson talk about clips filmed at a pro-Trans demo after the court decision, and one of this clips has this young woman.

She says (emphasis mine):

At the end of the day I just think maybe we should just have unisex toilets and be done with, because we don't need exclusively female spaces or exclusively male spaces anyway.

The interviewer then says but there are reasons, and says that for example there are reasons why there are femals sports and male sports. She goes "what are they".
Interviewer: You know, men are typically faster, stronger than women.

This woman puts on a smirk and goes:

Are they now? No, that's just your perception.

And then she says that Serena Williams would "of course" win if she were to play against Rafael Nadal.
At this point I should point out that at least judging by her physical shape, this is not a woman who has competed in sport in adulthood. Likely also not in her late teen years. Quite possibly never.

HOW does one reach and more importantly retain this level of detachment from reality?

And then a man in a lipstick, who seems to be with this young woman, starts going on about how Williams sisters could totally beat any male tennis player on the right day. I guess we know where she gets her ideas from. But does she live in a world of videogames or something to not question any of it?

(source with timestamp - i hope - lest someone think I'm misquoting her or lying https://youtu.be/FPQ83c98W9Y?si=Nbg0lRzMRbsTJrfh&t=1838 )