Few things that make my blood boil like Trump saying “J-6 hostages.”

I’m curious what the speed limit of the road was. It blows my mind how fast we let cars drive in residential areas. The fact that these kids can’t walk 2 blocks safety between the grocery store and home-- or put another way, that if they don’t use the crosswalk between home and the grocery store, there’s a serious risk of death-- is such a failure of city planning and societal values.

Neither article mentions how far it would be had they used the crosswalk, but I’d guess, with a 4 lane road, for two kids it was really out of the way.

How heartbreaking. 7 years old. As a parent you can’t say, “yeah, you can walk two blocks home,”? Land of the free, but no autonomy for people without a car.

Is a server a requirement? I haven’t tried myself but localsend (p2p) comes to mind.

Good point. We’ve gone full circle, or line, on that one.

Naomi Klein refers to the right co-opting left phases (triggered, othered, fake news, etc) as “pipiking.” I think doing the reverse is hilarious, but also imagine a future where it results in an Idiocracy-like dialect 💀

I’d bet the sprawl and heat make biking impractical.

Personally, I’d start with his wikipedia page, and the pages for his books. The people you’re talking to are likely caught in the fascism algorithmic funnel and have only watched videos rather than reading themselves. So they probably don’t have a deeper understanding than what wikipedia provides. That’s part of the appeal of conspiracy theories, that they’re bite-sized talking points that fit neatly together inside even the smallest minds.

I’m willing to bet there are people who have already done the work for you and picked apart the books, and there’s probably conspiracy theorists who have come up with stories for each of those points. And now we’re approaching the point of Branolini’s Law, “The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it”

Beyond the scope of your Q, but if I could offer some advice: Instead of arguing, ask interrogating questions, as though you trust them and you’re genuinely trying to understand all the contours. You’ll quickly find many holes in their weak foundation. Success is bringing some awareness to how weak their info is. It’s like asking someone to show you around their messy apartment and now they’re a little embarrassed, so hopefully they’ll clean up or stop talking about it.

Honestly, though, I’d have those convos in person (and worryingly, i have). Algorithmic social media is not built for deep thought or meaningful discussions. IMO It’ll just suck up time and energy that can be better spent elsewhere.