labels that the people you were labeling didn’t even like

This is a silly criticism. "Latinx" and similar terms were used by some US kids of Latin-American descent and those people felt the "X"-ed words provided them better representation. Many native Spanish speakers didn't feel represented and objected to the terms being applied to them. So: there were two (maybe even more???) groups of people and they didn't agree on one label being applied to both of them.

It doesn't make sense to say that this is a problem with "woke" (wtf does that even mean) because the "non-woke" alternative is to use labels that people don't like... exactly the thing you're complaining woke did wrong. It's not a change making us worse off, it's just a failure to deliver total success. (Maybe it failed to deliver even partial success here? That's a conversation that might be worth having, but "worse off" seems like a straight hallucination.)

Now, if you want to say, "I have a big criticism of progressive movements: they do not succeed to the degree that they promise!" then sure. You should get in line behind literally every person who has ever considered themselves progressive, because all of them have also come up with this brilliant piece of insight and are eager to share it.

Whoah how did you type those words that are illegal to say? You must be so brave

It's interesting how the English language makes a phrase like "trans women are women" ambiguous about the number of women that each trans woman is... I always assumed "one" but you raise an interesting question.

It's fucked up that the Greens actually went into business as Russian stooges instead of just being an opposition party.

Many on the cultural right are forgetting something critical: same-sex marriage doesn’t infringe upon anyone else’s rights. A crucial argument against gender ideology was the infringement on women’s rights. But unlike trans edge cases such as women’s sports or prisons, marriage isn’t a zero-sum issue. There isn’t a finite number of spots on the “marriage team.” My getting married takes nothing away from straight couples.

It's too bad they're both too incurious to think for themselves and so media-illiterate that they haven't read The Handmaid's Tale... Obviously lesbian couples can be broken up and forced into miserable straight marriages and this is precisely what the right would want to do! (It's even part of the American past that MAGA wants to return to!)

100%

Also the "it wasn't a fear-based decision, I just rationally opposed all the forced child gender-transitions". It's not possible to roll ones eyes hard enough.

I actually do have empathy for a TERF who'd say, "I uncritically chugged conservative media and become terrified of stories about men 'transitioning' as a way to attach women. Now I see that was all lies and I was a fool who never tried putting myself in others' shoes."

Peter Thiel has confidence that his own personal power will keep him safe. Since he's a sociopath, having homosexuality be illegal actually benefits him because if he gets tired of a relationship he can just out the other man and have them executed.

It's not entirely clear to me whether history supports his confidence. But little no-name "activists" like the article author are always going to be destroyed.

It's so resilient, too. Like, I can see not examining things that Zuckerberg says because they don't sound idiotic on first glance. And the US is very much "more money = better than" so why not give extra weight to anything some rich guy says.

But Musk and Trump say multiple obviously-stupid things every day, are visibly wrong all the time, and still get breathless treatment. "Wow, Elon Musk says he expects oil to go to $69/barrel by the end of the week! Does he know something others don't??"

Hatred Enterprise Linux being marketed to the US gov

Maybe Katana is somewhere with stronger consumer-protection laws than the USA. It's not possible to make judgements about legal/illegal without at least knowing the jurisdiction.

We can say for sure that it's obnoxious and unethical.

If only he could be as sympathetic and intelligent as The Gang.

I guess the "pro sanctions" argument would be that countries have very few ways to influence each other: political pressure (asking nicely), economic pressure (sanctions to make the country poor), and military pressure (bombs). And that hey at least it's not bombs (until it is).

But just like with bombs, sanctions will always hurt a ton of people who were just trying to live their lives and did not want to be part of the conflict.

I hope your friend gets by OK.