PhilipTheBucket

joined 2 weeks ago
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[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 10 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Not only have I never had a problem with him, I've literally never seen him have a problem with anyone or vice versa.

I looked back in his modlog, and pretty much what I found was silliness. I've said before, I really think there are people on Lemmy trying to stir up absurd drama for reasons of their own to use to attack mods especially that they don't like and get others to bully them for being "wrong" in some kind of artificial way on some kind of various hot-button issue. This looks 100% like that.

Anyone who feels like this dude is wrong, go look at his modlog, make your own decision.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 17 points 16 hours ago (9 children)

Specifically, he said (among other similar things):

There's an argument to be made for neopronouns in the following cases: - People who don't like 'They' as singular - People who believe there should be a neopronoun(s) that is not simply neutral/neuter, but explicitly for NB identities To the first, I will die on this grammatical hill, but I also acknowledge that it's a matter of taste. If you want to push for Xe/Xim or whichever as gender-neutral-singular, that's fine, and I'll respect your pronouns, but I really do think that 'they' is perfectly serviceable as-is and we should just expand usage of it. If the cultural zeitgeist goes against it, though, it's whatever, if Xe/Xim becomes the new norm, I'll swap to Xe/Xim. To the second, I understand the argument, but I find it non-intuitive. I'll respect the pronouns of people who want a dozen different new pronouns added to the lexicon, but I'll also vehemently argue against the practice. Pronouns are meant to streamline communication, and gendered language itself is something of a relict.

"Gatekeeping." Ban.

This whole thing is stupid. I don't even want to step into or bring up the other big relevant issue that caused strife because it's even stupider than that.

You guys are fuckin' with this guy because he did downvoting, and because he expressed what overall sounded to me like pretty reasonable opinions honestly.

People aren't hating on you here. It's fine. You don't have to turn everyone into an enemy.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 16 points 17 hours ago (6 children)

I worked in a restaurant. I spat in the trashcan in the kitchen right by the food line. I bummed cigarettes from customers. I also worked my ass off, working doubles or picking up shifts, because combination of 0 money and just my general nature. I practically knocked down a waitress one time just because I was sort of rushing around not looking where I was going. I stole food sometimes. I was a menace. I frequently called out. I was the only white guy who would work busing or dish room without whining about it, and also I would genuinely try to do a good job. The managers were sort of evenly divided with most slightly in favor of me and some with intense bad feelings about me, but in general I was perpetually semi-close to getting fired. Eventually, I quit because too dysfunctional and was moving to another city, and was too generally disorganized to even pick up my last check for some reason.

I also hated waiting tables because of dealing with customers, and would try to avoid it in favor of even other less valued positions when I could afford to.

Does that count?

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 2 points 18 hours ago

I'm pretty sure there was a genuine amendment defunding the Iron Dome that MTG introduced. I could be wrong but I saw that in sources that don't just make stuff up.

She proposed a big handful of amendments; maybe Iron Dome is in ICP and they just don't like to publicize it very much, or maybe it was in one of the other amendments.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 3 points 18 hours ago

Yeah. I guess that's a good way to look at it, is they're spending so much energy on it because the progressive momentum is steadily building. I just wish their energy would quit translating into success.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 41 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (43 children)

Good on the admins for not tolerating this.

...

How many downvotes exactly are we talking about here?

Is it, like, two hundred? Or is it, like, ten?

Edit: Wait, what the fuck? I got bored and checked it more. How did dbzer0 pick literally the most helpful and drama-free of all possible Lemmy users to ban? As far as I can tell, literally the only thing the dude does is post about cool stuff and chat. I didn't even know he was active as a moderator in any real capacity.

checks profile to see if he actually did confess to mass-downvoting dozens of votes at some user or some other sin that, while objectively not "abusive," might have been at least arguably not ideal or something

One of the first things I found was:

The only reason it’s “Vote Blue no matter who” is because right now, in America’s FPTP system, the Dems are the only real alternative in most areas to the GOP. It’s a pithy saying, not a political essay. The lesson is not “LOYALTY TO COMRADE BIDEN”, but “Don’t throw your vote away on a symbolic action; preventing fascism is more important than virtue signaling to no one, especially since ballots are secret”

Ooooohhh.... oh. Oh.

Good fuckin' God man. dbzer0, we love you, quit trippin'. Just relax. Not everyone you don't like or agree with is "abusive."

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 4 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

He already signed it.

No idea what's going on, but it doesn't sound real good. As always, the bullies can more or less do whatever they want, and there's no pretense that it has to make sense, but the bullied have to be on their best behavior, make perfect decisions, always be unimpeachable, year after year.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 7 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah. There's always something to capitalize on.

There are some fucking emergencies going on, among them the literal starvation of everyone in Gaza. Go up to the US Capitol building or your local Brooks Brothers, or fucking wherever, and spray-paint "PEOPLE IN GAZA ARE DYING TONIGHT"? Fuckin' spot on, man, please do. Go and shit on the lefty-est person you can find because you found a tiny chink in her behavior that you can exploit and start bullying her over for the next year and a half? Honestly, man, it really irritates me.

I think the reason they like to do it is because she's vulnerable. If they were protesting the people actually killing Palestinians, or the people taking over our country and cancelling democracy, they might punch back real hard. That's scary, so let's go throw some paint on someone who is in a precarious enough position that she'll have to just take it.

Honestly, fuck 'em. Like I say it irritates me.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 7 points 19 hours ago

Why did a little handful of different accounts all suddenly interject to this same comments section to leave short one-off comments about how AOC is definitely the worst for doing this, all within a few minutes of each other, on this mostly-dead comments section roughly one hour ago? That's weird.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Okay, sure, that part I agree with. She should have voted "yes" on the doomed amendment and maybe gotten into it more afterwards about how even "defensive" funding for Israel is a terrible thing to do at this point. My point was (a) this is being ginned up into the entirety of her Israel position, overriding a ton of pro-Palestinian things she has been consistently doing that are way bigger deals than this, pretty consistently throughout her career, and I think it's being done on purpose by people who are trying to hurt the left (who will wind up hurting Palestinians a lot more than helping them through the effort) (b) saying that her and Bernie are weak on Palestine in general is a sign that you're probably listening to some people who are lying to you on purpose. Those two are among the strongest Palestine supporters in congress, probably second only to people like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.

So yeah if you want to condemn her vote on this, fine. If you want to spin it up into her being pro-genocide or in any way deserving of her office being vandalized or her being singled out as a genocide supporter, you are helping some people who are lying and hurting the Palestinian cause (as well as lot of domestic left issues). That's my point.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 4 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

From the article: They cannot (or not without creating significant legal issues for themselves). The military doesn't work that way.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 13 points 23 hours ago

Almost as if they're part of a class of people that doesn't give a shit about the average American person.

Honestly, if you've ever spent time in Washington, it starts to make sense why a lot of them are so bizarre and incompetent with these things they are trying to do. The people are just odd on a personal / judgement type of level. Well... I mean, what they're trying to do is pull down six figures doing stuff that's really not very difficult that they don't have to be all that good at. At that, they're succeeding. Winning elections or helping the country, they are failing.

 

A twin-engine variant of a drone capable of carrying a payload of over 12 kilograms, produced by the company "Darts," is now being provided to Ukraine's army in small quantities, a company representative told media at a drone demonstration event on July 18.

The "Darts" turbo-engine strike drone is capable of traveling over 40 kilometers (25 miles) and carries a payload of 12-14 kilograms as opposed to the company's pre-existing single engine drone which can handle a maximum of 8 kilograms.

Ukraine relies on drones to meet its defense needs, as materiel supplies fall short of providing necessary weapons and air defense amid Russia's war. Kyiv has employed drone and robotic technologies on the battlefield in an effort to minimize troop losses and adapt to evolving threats.

"In general, this is one of the most massive aircraft currently on the front. Today we are presenting its twin-engine version. That is, currently its single-engine version is being delivered to the troops, and now we are already starting to deliver the twin-engine version in small series," a representative from "Darts" told media.

Drone warfare has defined Russia's war against Ukraine, with both sides increasingly relying on unmanned systems for reconnaissance and strikes on the battlefield.

Ukrainian drones reportedly targeted Moscow on June 19, as the Russian capital encountered drones for the third night in a row.

Ukraine has significantly increased its own drone production. In June, Ex-Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that Ukrainian companies have the capacity to manufacture up to 4 million drones annually.

Meanwhile, the Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) were responsible for every third Russian target hit in June, Commander in Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on July 9.

"Thus, in June, every third enemy target — out of all those hit by the Defense Forces of Ukraine — was on the account of the USF," he said.

Ukraine for the first time captured Russian troops without the use of infantry, relying solely on drones and ground-based robotic systems, the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said on July 9.

"For the first time in history: Russian soldiers surrendered to the 3rd Assault Brigade's ground drones," the brigade's statement said.

As Ukraine fights back with its drones, Russia continues to bombard Ukrainian cities with its own drone and missile attacks.

Russian attacks killed at least seven people and injured another 25 in Ukraine, regional authorities reported early on July 18.

At least one was killed and three injured in a Russian drone attack on Odesa overnight on July 19.

Russia has in recent weeks stepped up attacks on Ukrainian draft offices to disrupt mobilization, launching five strikes on enlistment offices in the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Poltava, Kremenchuk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia.

Read also: With Trump-Zelensky ‘mega-deal,’ Ukraine’s drone makers hope to flood the US

 

A Polish programmer running on fumes recently accomplished what may soon become impossible: beating an advanced AI model from OpenAI in a head-to-head coding competition. The 10-hour marathon left him "completely exhausted."

On Wednesday, programmer Przemysław Dębiak (known as "Psyho"), a former OpenAI employee, narrowly defeated the custom AI model in the AtCoder World Tour Finals 2025 Heuristic contest in Tokyo. AtCoder, a Japanese platform that hosts competitive programming contests and maintains global rankings, held what may be the first contest where an AI model competed directly against top human programmers in a major onsite world championship. During the event, the maker of ChatGPT participated as a sponsor and entered an AI model in a special exhibition match titled "Humans vs AI." Despite the tireless nature of silicon, the company walked away with second place.

"Humanity has prevailed (for now!)," wrote Dębiak on X, noting he had little sleep while competing in several competitions across three days. "I'm completely exhausted. ... I'm barely alive."

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In the span of nearly a week, from June 30 to July 7, Russian forces launched five strikes on enlistment offices in the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Poltava, Kremenchuk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia, damaging infrastructure and causing civilian and military casualties.

An attack on a Poltava enlistment center killed four, while another on Kharkiv left one dead. In Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv a combined 118 people were injured. Each attack damaged several residential buildings, businesses, government offices, and educational institutions.

While Russia has targeted Ukraine's enlistment centers throughout the war, the recent attacks represent a more brazen shift in tactics aimed at disrupting Ukraine's mobilization efforts and sowing discord in society.

In the first months of 2025, Russian intelligence operatives reportedly orchestrated three terrorist attacks on enlistment centers in Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytskyi, and Rivne oblasts by recruiting local residents. Ukrainian authorities say they successfully foiled about a dozen additional plots in other regions.

"These attacks are aimed at disrupting mobilization and reducing the flow of recruits to the Ukrainian Armed Forces."

"Enlistment offices are primarily of interest to Russia because they store documentation and handle all the organizational processes of mobilization," Andrii Osadchuk, the first deputy head of the parliament's Law Enforcement Committee, told the Kyiv Independent.

"That is why these attacks are aimed at disrupting mobilization and reducing the flow of recruits to the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Osadchuk added.

Enlistment offices are responsible for organizing mobilization and maintaining military records, but they also serve as hubs for delivering social services to veterans, active-duty personnel, and their families. This dual role makes them one of Ukraine's key institutions during wartime, and attacks on them pose serious risks to both service members and civilians.

Mobilization push continues despite Russian countermeasures

Ukraine has been working steadily to grow its ranks throughout the full-scale war, announcing multiple mobilization drives and updates to enlistment procedures.

On July 16, the Ukrainian parliament further expanded eligibility by allowing individuals over 60 to sign military service contracts. Four months earlier, Ukraine also launched an initiative aimed at encouraging people aged 18 to 24 — those below the conscription age — to enlist.

Vitalii Sarantsev, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Ground Forces, told the Kyiv Independent that Russia is closely monitoring Ukraine's mobilization process and that the surge in attacks on recruitment centers in July was "no coincidence."

Recruiters check documents of men eligible for conscription in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 8, 2024.Recruiters check documents of men eligible for conscription in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 8, 2024. (Narciso Contreras / Anadolu via Getty Images)A residential building is destroyed after a Russian drone strike targeting a military enlistment center in Poltava, Ukraine, on July 4, 2025.

A residential building is destroyed after a Russian drone strike targeting a military enlistment center in Poltava, Ukraine, on July 4, 2025. (Mykola Yeremenko / Suspilne Ukraine / JSC "UA:PBC" / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

The wave of Russian attacks on enlistment offices has also sparked questions about Ukraine's preparedness and whether current security measures are sufficient to protect the recruitment network.

Following the recent strikes, the Vinnytsia regional enlistment office announced that it would temporarily suspend operations and relocate its services to different areas for security reasons.

According to Sarantsev, relocation is not the only measure Ukraine is taking to enhance the security of its enlistment offices. Equally important is the ongoing effort to move as many services as possible online, the spokesperson added.

"This is the responsibility not only of enlistment offices, but also of other ministries, including the Defense Ministry," Sarantsev said.

After lowering the conscription age from 27 to 25 in 2023 and passing a revised mobilization bill in 2024, aimed in part at updating the records of those eligible for service and transferring them to enlistment offices, Ukraine has taken several steps toward digitalizing its military.

Still, much work remains to be done, Sarantsev added.

"Transitioning to electronic services also requires security measures to protect online information. Enlistment offices currently do not have full access to all state registers and databases. So, this process will take time, but it is already in progress," he said.

Lawmaker Osadchuk also confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that enlistment offices across Ukraine have already received guidance on operating under heightened security conditions and have taken steps to respond accordingly.

He warned that while Russia is unlikely to stop its attacks and attempts to disrupt Ukraine's mobilization efforts, he believes that with the new security measures, they are "unlikely to significantly disrupt the ongoing mobilization process."

Note from the author:

Hi, this is Kateryna Hodunova. I wrote this story for you. Despite ongoing fatigue and the strain of prolonged war, Ukrainians continue to resist a Russian army that holds a numerical advantage. The key distinction remains: While Russian forces are conducting an invasion, Ukrainians are defending their home. That's a difference that matters — and one we shouldn't forget.

We are committed to reporting on Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. If you'd like to support our work, please consider becoming our member.

Read also: Facing manpower shortage, Ukrainian brigade turns to women in first-ever female recruitment drive

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