Joel VanderWerf ๐Ÿง

@joelvanderwerf
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Mathematician. Applying semigroup theory to distributed computing, convergent replication.

Bay Area and SF content: @joelvanderwerf

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my countryAmerica
my hometownSan Francisco
githubhttps://github.com/vjoel
When the Jawas settle down and open a filling station.

Siiiigggghhhh!

Via Kyle Cheney:

Judge MOSS has grave concerns about facilitating the deportation of people to potentially life threatening circumstances in South Sudan, but he thinks his hands are tied by the Supreme Court's stay yesterday.

Still, he says the SCOTUS rulings were devoid of reasoning so it's not totally clear.

Sooooo... as a professor:

Under the new budget law's severe loan caps, I'm seriously concerned that a lot of universities are either going to have to radically cut like... everything, or they're just going to close.

A lot of people didn't notice, but going forward, undergraduate students are only going to be able to borrow a maximum of $20,000 a year, up to a lifetime cap of $65,000. I know that sounds like a lot, but the flagship public university near me runs a tuition of $31,700 *per year* before non-loan student aid, but also before housing, food, and so forth. Even mine, a midsized non-prestige university, runs $14k.

There's going to be a lot of Very Average students who don't qualify for Pell Grants (which were also cut) and who come from families that don't have a significant ability to support them financially. For them? The dream of college at a great school probably just died, especially at the best universities.

And before you mention athletics or academic scholarships: think about that flagship public university I mentioned. The only way that can realistically even survive in this system is to slash tuition. Where do you think that money is going to come from? Athletics. Academic scholarships. Dramatic cuts to staff and administrators.

I'm not an economist. I could very well be wrong.

But like

I cannot see how they make the math math.

The Netherlands is about to introduce a new law that makes helping supposedly illegal migrants/refugees a criminal offence. So yes. The Netherlands is reintroducing the Nazi law that made hiding Anne Frank illegal. As a Dutchie I am ashamed, angry and powerless (as I live in Germany). Geert Wilders, and every single Dutchie who voted for his PVV, may you burn in hell.

1/2

So it's frustrating to hear things like "This is the darkest timeline" and "late-stage capitalism."

Yes things suck & you gotta vent. But... do people think the US started in 1960?

We really forget our country, and capitalism, *started* with people on the auction block.

It's likely that #ConcentrationCamps are coming to the US, and Timothy Snyder has some thoughts: "CEOs should now, this summer, this month, next week, sign a pledge not to use labor from concentration camps. It could be as simple as that: 'On behalf of my firm I promise not to use labor from concentration camps nor to cooperate with any firm that does.'" https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/concentration-camp-labor?r=nunx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Concentration Camp Labor

Cannot Become Normal

Thinking about...

My son just yelled some angry random noise from his room, so I asked what's up.

"I'm trying to make up names for the gods in my D&D campaign but every time I come up with something I look it up and it's already the name of some weird medication."

A strange problem to have but I can see it.

I believe there is a very strong case to be made for the notion that when the other side is burning it all down, that we become even more idealistic.

Is desperately throwing ourselves in front of the machinery in order to save a mediocre, fucked up system really the best we can come up with?

#BeRealisticDemandTheImpossible

Happy Fourth!
ADL Slams Donald Trump For Saying 'Shylocks'

"Words from our leaders matter and we expect more from the President of the United States," the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement to Newsweek.

Newsweek
ร—
What goes around comes around. National student debt forgiveness was halted by single federal district court judges in the 5th Circuit, for example.
@georgetakei sadly, they are going to reverse the rulings as they are used in those sorts of ways ):
@georgetakei Thatโ€™s why there arenโ€™t going to be any more Democratic presidents.

@georgetakei

Does that ruling apply retroactively?

The pachinko machine effect would be entertaining to watch.

@jakebrake @georgetakei that was my first thought. We need to make it so!

@georgetakei I'm more afraid that it all leads to a impossible situation where the whole system breaks down. (As it is starting to crumble already)

There is no 'easy fix' for this.

@georgetakei

Hopefully there will be a next timeโ€ฆ

@georgetakei I truly hope there is a โ€œnext timeโ€. Please be nice to one another. Or not, I guess. What do I know?
@georgetakei If the office is granted authoritarian powers, the people who hold it will turn out to be authoritarians, whatever letter they decorate their names with. I see no way to celebrate any of this.
@georgetakei And anger their billionaire patrons? They don't have the stones.
@georgetakei ob hack: cheers to OP for knowing the plural of "attorney general." That being said, they're right about the potential schadenfreude...
@georgetakei You had me until โ€œnext democratic presidentโ€œโ€ฆ
@weltraumpirat @georgetakei Exactly. They are doing this precisely because they intend to hold on to power indefinitely.