kontextmaschine

space-wizards:

kontextmaschine:

max1461:

friendshapedhole:

Free idea for someone who cares about gun control: only assault rifles should be legal, handguns should be outlawed.

I’m 100% sure I’ve heard this before, not sure from who though. An “assault rifle” isn’t really a thing, but, yeah. Outlawing handguns but not rifles doesn’t seem like an altogether bad idea if you’re coming at it from a “reduce gun death but also respect the spirit of the second amendment” angle.

Uh don’t look now but with the US civilian carbine boom proceeding on parallel “legally a pistol” and “short-barreled rifle” tracks the handgun/assault rifle binary isn’t looking too hot these days

The 1934 National Firearms Act was originally trying to restrict machine guns and pistols as “criminal weapons”, with the “short-barreled rifle” stuff filling a loophole, and but the pistol part got removed before the law passed. Everything about about it has been kludgy nonsense from the beginning:

It sure seems like everyone important who wants to restrict guns doesn’t know shit about guns.

I just love the part where the tax stamps are set at prohibitively high prices as a getaround for “we do TOO have authority to promulgate this law!” and then never updated so inflation eventually renders them moot

escuerzoresucitado:

eightyonekilograms:

OK, I’m seeing some bad posts from some of the usual suspects, which, whatever, but in these bad posts I also see a couple intelligent and well-meaning people getting tripped up, and so I’m here to help.

Whenever the issue of Taiwan comes up, you are guaranteed to see pro-PRC people saying that “well the ROC also claims sovereignty over China, so they’re just as bad”. This is an vile and disingenuous claim, for two reasons:

First, nobody in Taiwan– not the KMT, not the Greens, nobody– expects or even wants to reconquer China, now or any time in the future. It’s not just that they know they obviously can’t, it’s that they no longer even want to. Anyone who tells you otherwise is bullshitting you. Formal independence and statehood is the most radical thing anyone in Taiwan wants, and most people don’t even want that; their preferred option is indefinite extension of the status quo. Claiming sovereignty over the mainland is a dead letter symbolic gesture with no intent behind it, and everybody everywhere knows this.

Second, and more importantly, the PRC forces Taiwan to keep claiming that it will reconquer the mainland someday. No I’m not being stupid: I’m serious, and it’s true. The government of Taiwan is required to keep saying that it is the legitimate ruler of China, no matter how ridiculous that is, because formally renouncing this claim is equivalent to a declaration of independence, and that is the PRC’s immediate red-line to go to war.

So now you see what an evil catch-22 it is to say “look, Taiwan says it is the rightful ruler of China and they’re going to invade someday!”. If the ROC does make these claims, they’re accused of imperialism. If they don’t, they immediately get invaded.

Don’t fall for this trick. When you see this claim, you now know how to shut it down completely.

What do the Formosans think?

birlinterrupted:

i lost my mind when this happened. like you have got to be kidding me.

I didn’t at the time appreciate how Correct as a judgement on the state of audiovisual entertainment it was that there was a Toxic Avenger cartoon in 1991

(up there with the The Maxx and The Tick 90s cartoons as “I hope the producers were getting something out of this, cuz I just took it for granted.”)

max1461:

friendshapedhole:

Free idea for someone who cares about gun control: only assault rifles should be legal, handguns should be outlawed.

I’m 100% sure I’ve heard this before, not sure from who though. An “assault rifle” isn’t really a thing, but, yeah. Outlawing handguns but not rifles doesn’t seem like an altogether bad idea if you’re coming at it from a “reduce gun death but also respect the spirit of the second amendment” angle.

Uh don’t look now but with the US civilian carbine boom proceeding on parallel “legally a pistol” and “short-barreled rifle” tracks the handgun/assault rifle binary isn’t looking too hot these days

So you were supposed to read Giles from Buffy as like, the one of John Constantine’s mates who got out of Britain alive, right?

kane52630:

Jennifer Connelly as Josie McClellan in Career Opportunities (1991)

Cross-language puns are unironically to Japanese what like rhyme is to English

Decorating my house from Internet retailers the algorithm can pick up on means that these days Facebook ads quite precisely match my taste and often do in fact offer things I would like but wouldn’t have even thought to look for (where?)

Relationship with Badger at the point he often doesn’t even meow when he wants food, he just keeps nuzzling me to get my attention with love. Every 4 minutes for like an hour.

centrally-unplanned:

argumate:

The Wall Street Journal reported on January 24 that US President Joe Biden is preparing to send “a significant number” of Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine and that the White House may announce the delivery as soon as January 25. German newspaper Der Spiegel reported on January 24 that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided to deliver at least one tank company (14 tanks) of Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine in an unspecified time frame. Poland likely will send Ukraine Leopard 2 tanks following Germany’s decision. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak stated on January 24 that Poland formally requested Germany grant permission to transfer Poland’s Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stated that Berlin would not interfere if Poland wanted to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. British officials confirmed on January 16 that the United Kingdom would send Ukraine 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron stated he would not rule out the possibility of France sending Ukraine Leclerc tanks on January 22.

American tanks, German tanks, British tanks, and French tanks, surely it would simplify logistics to have one type of tank

Secretly just a Anglo-Franco-German competition to see who’s tank is best in a trial-by-fire.

No worries about them falling into enemy hands and being reverse-engineered now that it’s all on the War Thunder forums anyway

roryblank:

you lookin at my hat, stranger?

Does North Korea believe in the “fan death” thing?

silezukuk:

A night shot of the Karl Marx monument [sculptor Lev Kerbel] in Chemnitz, Germany [German Democratic Republic] / [***]

catherinegraffam:

I recreated Caravaggio’s “Judith Beheading Holofornes” in Kid Pix Studio from 1995 using a mouse

Well today before sunset I weeded all the bittercress starting to show up, did some misc. yard work and went to get a nice pair of glasses, which was in the section of things I get to do once I take care of everything I have to do, post-sunset tasks include sanding down the legs of a plastic spice shelf organizer so I can fit it together

prettyboysnuffmovie:

pitbolshevik:

pitbolshevik:

this is so fucking funny imagine saying this

guys im soooo fucking sexy and it makes my life so hard because people dont know how to handle it

sandmandaddy69:

power-chords:

I am a recreational Noticer. I love to Notice Things and Make Connections and Identify Patterns. This is one of my favorite activities and it requires me to behave in compulsively silly ways online.

mlarayoukai-archive:

Yes sir right away sir