RIP to the Prince of Darkness

One of my favorites: https://youtu.be/G3LvhdFEOqs

People should know and have evidence on hand that policy and budget decisions directly effect lives.

This is another lesson available, we are individuals that are part of communities which can learn from this lesson vicariously.

This community had a conversation that ended with a vote, where people chose not to pay more taxes and to not figure out the minutia of how to run the system effectively - nor did they receive a grant from above levels of government - nor did they determine a local low cost solution - and because of that people were swept away in a flash flood they had no clue was coming like countless times in history and prehistory.

There will always be a balance between safety and budget, just as with all other qualities, and its a constant difficulty always filled with consequences wherever the decisions made land.

But some consequences are easier to bare than others.

The next time this community thinks about floods and what to do about them they’re perspective will likely shift with the weight of the dead bodies left in the debris field, and it should be hoped that other communities who know this news understand that too.

The effort and cost of government is for our collective benefit, because the world is rough, and by working and sacrificing together we can make it easier if we choose to.

This article adds to the story and make you think about the decisions you and your community are making.

Its been a while since ive been ratio’d so hard - but no I’m not a professional or a shill. I support Mamdani, donate monthly to all my local progressives and prominent ones afar such as Sanders and AOC, and volunteer and participate in my local politics such as yimby and stronger town initiatives when my schedule allows. I put my money and my actions behind my thoughts, not just my words.

My criticism is based on principle and made in the hopes of improving his message.

My point is not that the policy is bad, I think it’d be good if he removed the language targetting a race of people, but that his targeting parameters are racist, and in my book, a person who creates racist policy is a racist, a person who thinks race is a valid way to determine people and policy, and I oppose that. I oppose racists.

What I am saying is that, if the same neighborhood is targeted, because it is rich and under-enforced compared to other neighborhoods - that is fine by me.

But if the neighborhood is targeted not only because it is rich, but because it has a predominantly white community, that is not fine by me.

Its a “nitpicker” nuance, I get it, but one is racist policy, and one is not.

I want to end racism, not continue to allow the pendulum to swing in a never ending tit for tat that reaffirms the racist core of our society.

Justice can be achieved without racism.

I do fear he is a racist however. in his published policy memo “Supporting homeowners and ending deed theft” at https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform

He says in a headline in the linked policy memo document:

Shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods

I support the rich paying their share, and most of his other policies, if anything because is moves the city in the correct direction in my opinion; but I do take issue with him not just targeting a neighborhood because its richer, but because it is also whiter.

That is an explicitly racist policy, and on principle it should be opposed.

I do not understand why he is injecting race war into what could and should be a class war and it feels like a significant misstep. I’ve emailed his campaign about it days ago, but there has been no response or update so far unfortunately.

In the demo video, they show that you simply check boxes on which apps you want to be available or not in the dumb mode, I imagine selecting signal, and deselecting the default SMS messager is possible

If a hurricane is aborted at the embryo stage, then all that potential energy in the water, which fuels the hurricane, is never consumed and dissipated by the hurricane.

I think if we tried this, we’d find the oceans to heat up at an even more extreme rate, and create spontaneous weather events that we are unable to prepare and defend against.