Politics on L0G.is

Leaving Birdland

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This week, I deleted all my tweets on Twitter and posted a signpost to my new Mastodon account at https://infosec.exchange/@L0G1S, might delete the whole thing next week, we’ll see.

I’ve noticed from others within the infosec.exchange instance that there are some various growing pains for some when moving from Twitter to a federated community and I wanted to speak about why that is. Moving from a centralized community to a federated instance of something requires a shift into a new mindset of how you approach online communities in general. Even if the operation of the social media is similar. It doesn’t matter if tweets and toots are very similar, the underlying model is drastically different. If someone isn’t aware of those differences with the federated model, they might be disappointed when this community doesn’t operate the same (meaning: offer the same features) as the old, centralized service. Also moving from a billion dollar app to an open source one will also differ in quality and features.

The Fascist Fruit of Donald Trump

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve written about Donald Trump a few times in the past and in those posts, I tried to highlight how he clearly was never a conservative and how the Evangelical embrace of him would eventually backfire and probably lead to the largest exodus in years. Now to be honest, I’ve danced around the elephant in the room cautiously while also trying to highlight just how bad it is while at the same time the regret is eating at me a little for not being more forceful. This is because I have a number of relationships with friends and family who are fond or sympathetic to that very same elephant. Perhaps I was worried that something too “loud” might do more harm to those relationships than actually making my point. However, after last week’s coup on the Capitol, that I cannot remain silent anymore and I must speak as direct as possible, Donald Trump is a Ur-Fascist, and the cultish groups he’s catered to as well as the people he has emboldened have not only normalized classical fascism, but legitimized it to the point to where it will remain long after he is gone. This is a blog post I should have written a while ago.

The Forest is Already Burning

Sat, 29 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

After 17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed 2 protesters and wounding a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin at a Black Lives Matter protest. I started seeing many different arguments between various people online about the numerous different variables in the case, but in my opinion they’re all missing the crux of the situation that’s upstream.

I’m quickly learning that arguing about the justification of most shootings are just a waste of time. Our understanding of justification of a shooting has become such a binary assessment of the situation that people are always going to have varying levels of what they perceive to be a threat. You can show 2 people the same video and they can walk away with two completely different takes. People will often hypothesize scenarios in their head in order justify their view in a series of what ifs, rather than deal about the case at hand. Some people, they know, but they just don’t care. Other’s simply think it’s justifiable to paralyze a man who doesn’t listen to a cop’s instructions. I know a giant stone and a endless hill when I see one.

The Police Do Not Protect and Serve

Sun, 07 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been seeing clip after clip of cops beating protesters, shooting rubber bullets and beanbags at people’s faces, pepper spraying indiscriminately, antagonizing peaceful protesters, firing pepper rounds at medics. It always begs one to ask, is this protecting and serving? Unfortunately, that question is irrelevant, because constitutionally speaking, the Police do not have an obligation to protect someone from harm. Basically, they don’t have a duty to protect and serve. We just have accepted this false premise that protecting and serving is their purpose when it’s not.

The Parable of the Hollow Tree

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000

When I was a kid, I used to love climbing trees, it was one of my favorite things to do. On one particular afternoon when I was about 11, I was down the street from my house hiking in a wooded area with a bunch of trees and tall grass. I remember there was this one specific tree with a low branch that looked easy enough to jump up, grab, and climb. However, when I ended up grabbing the branch in mid jump, I was greeted with the loud crack like thunder as the branch snapped and completely ripped a large side off of the tree. Both the branch and myself hit the ground with a significant force as the air was violently sucked out of my lungs. I was lucky the branch fell in front of me and not on top of me because it was extremely heavy and I was alone out there. I could have found myself in my very own rendition of 127 hours.

Does John McCain Deserve Sympathy?

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

After it was announced that John McCain was diagnosed with glioblastoma, I’ve had my eye on the responses across the political spectrum. From Barack Obama, to Donald Trump, to Bernie Sanders, and they were all as expected. Thoughts and prayers and warm outpourings of support. However, the further I deviated my attention from the mainstream in either direction, I noticed the more vitriolic and perhaps honest they became. This stark contrast made me reflect, because it appears many people vehemently disagree about this, but does John McCain deserve sympathy?

Donald Trump Is A Mirror

Wed, 09 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

As the polls were closing on November 8th, I was in a bar in Sacramento sipping away at a rye whiskey and tobacco cocktail named after Ken Bone. I sat in the midst of the liberal crowd while the vibe was slowly starting to feel more and more panicked the more time passed. I knew Donald Trump was going to win, so I was already working through having to calm the potential riot that could occur. Maybe it’ll be this, maybe it’ll be that, but as a friend and I worked through what will happen over the next four years, I knew something immediately.

Donald Trump is The Joker for the Republican Party

Tue, 11 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

We’re witnessing something I don’t believe we’ve ever seen in American Politics. The republican party is eating itself alive and the most surprising part is that this all started a long time ago.

Over the past 20 years, the right wing political machine has continuously fanned the flames of fanatical rhetoric beginning with conservative talk radio. I know because I was an avid listener of it in the early 2000s. Rush Limbaugh from noon to 3, Sean Hannity from 3 to 6, and if I was ever in the car between 9-11pm, there was Michael Savage. The man who’s viciousness was second only to Alex Jones. There, liberals weren’t just people on the other side of the political aisle, they were specifically the enemy, they were everything that’s wrong with this country. They had mental disorders, they were traitors, and some suggested even demonic. Terms like communist and socialist are thrown around without any consideration of their true meaning. Dehumanization was the beginning, but then it was combined with the eschatology found in a majority of Evangelicalism. The President became the Antichrist, liberals are the ones destroying your country, and everything you know and love about America will be gone forever. It ended up becoming an echo chamber of madness where any opposing viewpoints were squashed like bugs. So like how 2+2=5, if you repeat something enough it will eventually be accepted as true and normal.