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[On 3 January 1941, the Nazi Party ended this controversy by switching to international scripts such as Antiqua. Martin Bormann issued a circular (the "normal type decree") to all public offices which declared Fraktur (and its corollary, the Sütterlin-based handwriting) to be Judenlettern (Jewish letters) and prohibited their further use]

#51

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Syt - Today at 12:44:23 AM

Yet another casualty in the War on Woke:

Rubio orders return to Times New Roman font over 'wasteful' Calibri

Good night, sweet Calibri,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Comic Sans MS might be more appropriate for this administration.

Seems familiar.

The Fraktur typefaces remained in use in Nazi Germany, when they were initially represented as true German script; official Nazi documents and letterheads employed the font, and the cover of Hitler's Mein Kampf used a hand-drawn version of it.[6] However, more modernized fonts of the Gebrochene Grotesk [de] type such as Tannenberg were in fact the most popular typefaces in Nazi Germany, especially for running text as opposed to decorative uses such as in titles. These fonts were designed in the early 20th century, mainly the 1930s, as grotesque versions of blackletter typefaces. The Nazis heavily used these fonts themselves, although the shift remained controversial; in fact, the press was at times scolded for its frequent use of "Roman characters" under "Jewish influence" and German émigrés were urged to use only "German script".[7][8]

On 3 January 1941, the Nazi Party ended this controversy by switching to international scripts such as Antiqua. Martin Bormann issued a circular (the "normal type decree") to all public offices which declared Fraktur (and its corollary, the Sütterlin-based handwriting) to be Judenlettern (Jewish letters) and prohibited their further use.[9] German historian Albert Kapr has speculated that the regime viewed Fraktur as inhibiting communication in the occupied territories during World War II.[10]

#52

Off the Record / Re: The EU thread

Last post by Jacob - Today at 12:44:03 AM

I kind of disagree on this. I think we're moving into a hard-edged, hard power multipolar world.

You don't get a seat at the table because of who you are, or who you were or the values you believe yourself to embody, or because of "international law" but because of agency. You can decide to do something and can then do it - I'd point that even on the tech front. Russia, like China (and to an extent Iran) have built their own digital infrastructure (payment systems, social media, search, AI etc) precisely because they've had to or want to avoid reliance on the US.

It's not a positve actor in my view, but whether it's Ukraine, the Middle East or Africa, Russia is a state with agency in the world in a way that Europe simply isn't (possible exception for the French). I'd add the Caucasus, Middle East and Africa are particularly striking because I think they're regions where there has been Euro-Russian competition.

I don't disagree that hard power and the ability to project influence matters, and increasingly so. And that being a superpower in the areas of nice intentions, flowery words, and sitting around talking about things is receding in importance these days. That's absolutely the case, IMO.

Where you and I do have a long standing disagreement is on the impact of propaganda and active undermining of competitors' civil societies. Maybe it's a cause and effect thing. I see it as one of several significant causes, whereas you seem to think of it as primarily a symptom.

#53

Off the Record / Re: The EU thread

Last post by Jacob - Today at 12:39:30 AM

That's definitely Putin and Thiel's read on Europe.

#54

Off the Record / Re: Australia begins enforcing...

Last post by Jacob - Today at 12:38:09 AM

There are an infinite number of potential social media options Teens who want to use social media can use. And most of it will barely be recognizable as social media to the Boomers trying to enact this policy. And attempts to enforce it will require tons of virtual ID checks and personal information being stored to monitor who is using what. And all this information will be easily stolen and used by nefarious actors all over the world.

I mean we have a minor porn ban and virtual ID requirement in Texas. All it has done is shut down Pornhub in Texas. But the internet is full of porn of every variety, not just from a few famous websites. My 15 year old son is constantly exposed to thirst traps that I doubt anybody would even consider porn but it is obviously inappropriate content for minors. It is a fools errand. But wow is our personal privacy and data going to suffer tremendously.

I think there's a massive difference between restricting social media and restricting porn.

When it comes to porn, typically consuming it is a solitary activity and porn from one place is as good as porn from any other place (subject to taste and quality concerns). Porn is often shared around for free, and typically the producers are located overseas. I agree that trying to stop it is essentially like building a chain link fence to stop a flood.

Social media, I think, is different. The key part of social media is the network effect. You want to be on the same social network as your peer group and where all the "cool influencers" are. This means that a dodgy social network in China isn't going to replace Instagram for you unless everyone you care about go there as well.

Secondly, while social media companies tend to be slippery and unethical they're still easier to come to grips with than porn producers. If Twitter or Tik-Tok fail to put in adequate controls to adhere to the law the government can levy significant fines or even turn them off altogether.

Maybe it'll be as easy to sidestep as everyone gets a VPN and uses their old accounts, or maybe it'll be trivial to make a new account pretending to be older and everyone will just reconnect. I guess we'll see. But I do think that the characteristics of social media makes it more susceptible to control than porn.

#55

Off the Record / Re: The EU thread

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 12:21:58 AM

Much depends to what extent our politicians are capable of taking the big decisions rather than cucking themselves for the  orange utang in the white house.

Playtime is over, but much of Europe (and that includes its citizens) doesn't seem to have gotten the memo.

I'm fairly pessimistic. I think there's a lot to Jacques Delors' line that Europe advances through crisis (also the framing of Luuk van Middelaar's very good Passage to Europe). I'm not sure we've seen the type of sudden advance or "coup" in van Middelaar's framing. Instead I think so far I'm not seeing those leaps forward or urgency.

I'd add this is one area where I think the "poly-crisis" framing is useful because I actually think it causes inertia. Faced with all of these intersecting crises (war and energy, US and security, China and de-industrialisation, migration and a chaotic near neighbourhood - and, across it all, climate) I'm slightly sorried Europe's like prey hypnotised by a snake. Just one more colloquia to victory.

#56

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Sheilbh - December 10, 2025, 11:52:38 PM

Disappointed in myself, but I got slightly infuriated by a Labour MPs tweet on the start of the process to remove jury trial from many cases But prompted a couple of thoughts.

I was slightly disappointed at it from Natalie Fleet because I think she's an interesting MP - but she is very much classic soft left MP too. Broadly in line with the mass of the PLP under Starmer.

Natalie Fleet MP
@NatalieFleetMP
Spot the difference: Court Reform

Gov benches: Women fighting for swifter justice for victims let down by those opposite

Opposition: Men in suits clinging on to a Magna Carta myth...

Glad to be on side of @sarahsackman & gov, fighting for victims already failed for too long

I think this is an example, which I've mentioned to Raz before, of a lot of "identity politics" not being driven by the left but by the centre left. Olufemi Taiwo's Elite Capture is fantastic on this. But it just seems like such a weak argument here remove jury trial in certain cases because....woke? Or worse remove jury trial because opposition to it is "not a good look". Not great.

Two slightly wider points this made me think of though is the thing about Magna Carta. Which I think is interesting in a wider way because I actually think that "myth" is our constitution in many ways. I think it's Linda Colley who makes the argument (I think it's in her book on constitutions: The Gun, The Pen and The Ship) that the British constitution is fundamentally the Whig narrative of history - and I think she's absolutely right. It's not Magna Carta, or the Bill of Rights or the Great Reform Act - each of these matter in their moment but are, as Fleet points out, of specific significance. What makes them matter is that they form a wider narrative with meaning - that may be a myth but the myth is really significant (just like the myths of, say, the French or American revolutions are in those countries). But Whig history has been in decline for over a century, it is now broadly recognised as "myth" in a perjorative sense and I'm not really sure how our system works without that intellectual underpinning. It feels like a lot of form without any substance or feeling for what works and what doesn't and where the edges are. I think similarly we've embraced many of the forms of a more American constitutional order (Supreme Court, advancing political arguments through the courts etc) without there being an underlying, shared, agreed, consensual basis like the US constitution/Bill of Rights.

Other thing is it reminds me of Blair in a weird way. In that Blair always liked to cast his politics (and I think genuinely thinks in these terms) between forces of modernity and progress (him) v their opponents (vested interests, unions, Tories). Whether it's all of his constitutional reforms (Human Rights Act, FOIA, Supreme Court) or embrace of almost unfettered globalisation, public-private partnerships, "cool Britannia" or his desire to join the Euro, I think Blair saw it all as having modernised the Labour Party, New Labour's job was to modernise the country. Ultimately peaking in his absolutely mad conference speech about Britain being a "young country" which seems like nonsense in basically any way you look at it

I think it's often an effective framing but I think it is a problematic as the experience of this country since Blair left office shows. I'd add that he is still very much of the same view but what constitutions progress has, possibly, shifted. So he's now very focused on embracing tech and AI as the coming wave. I think one of the big problems is the lack of politics in ideas of "progress" or "modernity" - so who is benefiting, where will the gains in power and wealth accrue etc. I think for Blair that was a detail and you just re-distribute the issue away, whereas I think in the last 10 years especially it's become very clear that who has the power matters and it's not just a case of re-distribution.

#57

Off the Record / Re: Australia begins enforcing...

Last post by Valmy - December 10, 2025, 10:59:35 PM

How does it have a high cost and infringe on everyone's freedom?

How is it trivial to circumvent, so teens will use it all the time anyways? Is there an off the shelf VPN solution that allows you to use all you pre existing accounts etc?

There are an infinite number of potential social media options Teens who want to use social media can use. And most of it will barely be recognizable as social media to the Boomers trying to enact this policy. And attempts to enforce it will require tons of virtual ID checks and personal information being stored to monitor who is using what. And all this information will be easily stolen and used by nefarious actors all over the world.

I mean we have a minor porn ban and virtual ID requirement in Texas. All it has done is shut down Pornhub in Texas. But the internet is full of porn of every variety, not just from a few famous websites. My 15 year old son is constantly exposed to thirst traps that I doubt anybody would even consider porn but it is obviously inappropriate content for minors. It is a fools errand. But wow is our personal privacy and data going to suffer tremendously.

#58

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Valmy - December 10, 2025, 10:54:52 PM

I thought Raz would be happy about dead Venezuelans. First of all, they're brown. Second, Venezuela = Iran = Hezbollah = Hamas.

Every single event in the universe is tied to Jew hatred from leftists.

 

I sympathize to some extent. What he is seeing isn't not there. It is just being blown up to insane paranoid proportions.

The Palestinians have no significant support from anybody. And the overwhelming support they do have is mostly virtue signalling hand wringing. Nothing that will practically help them.

Israel is highly nationalist and like most nationalists they think everybody thinks about them all the time and are out to get them. I used to listen to a lot of Israeli english language stuff back in the 2000s and it was kind of crazy. They were so sure BDS was this big thing that was going to threaten Israel and I couldn't help but laugh at the paranoid delusion. Bros. BDS is/was a joke, it isn't going to do shit.

In the old days when Arab Nationalism was riding high and they had armies willing to fight and support from the Soviets sure. Israel was in real danger. But they managed to win with only a few minor setbacks. And if they were able to win back then they can easily deal with whatever pitiful opposition they have now. Arab nationalism is dead. The neighboring countries are either total basketcases or firmly in control by rich authoritarian states who don't really give a shit about Palestine. But Israelis just cannot see it. They see every lame student demonstration as some kind of dangerous threat to panic about.

It is like Serbians on the old Paradox boards. Everybody is coming for Serbia! Panic!

#59

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by viper37 - December 10, 2025, 10:43:01 PM

I wonder does the department name make sense in English?

I checked their website, and it's not translated.  They kept the French name.

UPAC doesn't mean anything in English for sure.

The FBI had a Public Corruption bureau.  Not sure about the RCMP or the UK police corps, if they have distinct units for that.

#60

Off the Record / Re: Facebook Follies of Friend...

Last post by viper37 - December 10, 2025, 10:38:43 PM