branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 08/10/2026For market forces to assign an optimal price to the labor of mothers, mothers would have to be willing to withhold care from their children. And children would have to be able to forgo care, if the price demanded by their prospective caretakers meant they had to forgo other goods of greater value. 000
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 06/10/2026The whole thread is a catalog of agents who need to go to prison or lose their jobs, if prison is unavailable. Justice demands it. And fiscal responsibility. Why should the taxpayers pay for racist thugs to break the law? 000
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 02/10/2026More from Anderson: "the fact that people come to occupy different positions in a social hierarchy as a result of choices they make doesn’t suffice to justify that hierarchy."archive.nytimes.comWhat's Wrong With Inequality?Discrimination based on race, gender or class is the most obvious way we treat others unfairly. But it’s not the only way. 100
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 02/10/2026"Do our economic arrangements encourage trust, sympathy, and cooperation, or do they foment distrust, exploitation, domination, contempt, and antagonism among individuals and social groups?"dissentmagazine.orgThe Struggle for Meaningful Work - Dissent MagazineSocially necessary labor should entitle us to respect, decent pay, and safe conditions—not a duty to work relentlessly, without complaint. 100
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 01/10/2026"The estimate of the total amount of rubble in Gaza is 61m tonnes." It took *Japan* four years to clean up the approx. 20m tonnes of rubble produced by the 2011 tsunami.theguardian.comNew Google Maps images reveal massive scale of devastation in GazaSatellite imagery shows further destruction of homes, businesses and places of worship since fragile ceasefire 000
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 26/09/2026The Saga of Tanya the Evil. What a show! Tanya is an excellent anti-hero -- one who will do just about anything to bring about peace. The show is an extended meditation on how virtuous motives cause vice and how vicious motives can cause virtue. 100
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Years ago, I announced that I opposed all wrong-doing. And yet, people still accuse me of hypocrisy! 100
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 27/07/2026If white supremacists get credit for Newton's scientific achievements just because they are white, then they also get blame for the atrocities committed in the Belgian Congo. "I did that," is the white supremacist's position. 000
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 23/07/2026How strange that the Trump administration thinks it is okay to do what the Iranian state does, but also that they're "scum and liars" and a "gang of bloodthirsty thugs!" On second thought, maybe it's not that strange. 000
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 15/07/2026I'm starting to suspect that MAGA may well harbor some not necessarily antiracist folks.forbes.comWhite House Defends 1882 Immigration Law Excluding Chinese ImmigrantsThe Trump administration is defending the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act against the charge that the law had a racist intent. 100
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 10/07/2026The funniest anime I've ever watched. And sweet. High schoolers, Aimi and Nami, share a crush on the same boy, Kirio. (Or do they?) Hilarity ensues as they do whatever necessary to obtain the object of their passion - e.g. black magic, song-writing. Grade: A. #anime #kiriofanclub #reviewanimenewsnetwork.comKirio Fan Club Anime Series ReviewIn less capable hands, this could have been a preachy show. Instead, it handles dark, difficult topics with respect while still gleefully poking fun at how silly people can be. 212
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 06/07/2026Here are two mechanisms that plausibly generally dispose coalitions of people seeking to promote social hierarchy to oppose science: (1) To a large degree, social hierarchy consists in personal authority. ("Because I said so!") (2) Social hierarchy tends to rest on falsehoods. ("We're special!") 300
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 30/06/2026The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes: I liked the movie a lot - though it is mostly a collage of already-existing tropes and the main ideas the movie expresses are not particularly original. #anime #TunneltoSummer #review 110
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 30/06/2026If someone insists that the United States is "a Christian nation." Ask whether they think it is a womens' nation. After all: women are a majority of the population of the United States. 100
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 22/04/2026This is definitely a thing! There's a whole genre of YouTube videos of people reacting to the saddest anime (Dandadan, s1 e7; Grave of the Fireflies; Takopi's Original Sin; etc.). My guess is that the appeal of these reaction videos is shared emotions, even if the emotions are negative. 010
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 07/04/2026Threats to commit genocide - and material assistance toward that end - would be crimes of the "special tribunal" category. Hitler may well have granted immunity to members of his regime, but this did not stop the Nuremberg Trials. 000
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 21/03/2026The very excellent anime, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, proposes a theory of value: if my companions treat a thing as choice-worthy or valuable, then I have warrant for treating it as choice-worthy or valuable insofar as doing so would honor them. 120
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 02/02/2026Purge every single one of its members from government service, vigorously punish its criminals and their co-conspirators, and comprehensively change the laws and policies governing its actions. The result can even be called "CBP," if that would make normies feel better.cbsnews.comOfficial concedes 8-year-old who died in U.S. custody could have been saved as devastated family recalls final daysThe parents of 8-year-old Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez told CBS News that their daughter died in Border Patrol custody because of negligence and discrimination. 001
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 13/01/2026"The President shall not suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty ... except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur, or pursuant to an Act of Congress." (22 U.S. Code § 1928f) 000
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 05/06/2025A conservative who didn't lie wouldn't seem like a real conservative. Just as gangsters must often kill a stranger for no reason in order to join the gang, conservatives must lie. It shows their suitability positions of trust. 010
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 16/04/2025This is how I feel about the current political situation: totally vindicated and pretty tragic.theonion.comSarah MillerSarah Miller, 47, died happy when her claim that her son’s erratic driving was “going to get [them] all killed” was proven right. 011
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 21/11/2024You're a utilitarian!? You want to maximize peoples' utility!? Have you ever met a person? 140
branchingtime.bsky.social @branchingtime.bsky.social · 26/10/2023During one of the Roman sieges of Carthage, the Carthaginians ordered their soldiers to commit outrages against captured Roman soldiers on the walls of the city - in full view of the besieging Roman troops. Why? 130