There’s precedent for it, that’s exactly the (thankfully moronic) dumb shit that happened the last time they had majorities like that. This feels different this time, with the Supreme Court and such, but who knows. Lotta self centered people imagining themselves on top…may amount to little. One can hope.
Yeah, I hear that. I do think his extreme narrow focus is a legitimate and severe neurodivergence, he’s not going to like…stop being that way, ever, to any degree. It’s how his mind is shaped I think, he doesn’t even enjoy music, laughter, actual human warmth, even just alcohol, all things broadly considered to be the most human things. There’s no room for anything but his bizarrely narrow drive.
Whether there are people in his orbit who have learned dangerous things is a more troubling question, one we can only really hope is tempered by his unique extreme toxicity (and hopefully in this case the massive inertia of all the many people in branches of govt who’ve made that their career and have a personal interest in the status quo).
Yup! Weirdly Trump’s own worst qualities also tend to neuter his ability to deal damage somewhat (only somewhat! Goddamn is the man just a pandimensional wrecking ball). He attracts some of the very worst people, but then he chews through them for whatever purpose he had in mind for them, and then invariably even those people leave his orbit and go “wow everyone, that guy really is a piece of shit”. Pretty incredible stuff.
Similarly, his only actual ambition is personal greed, specifically his own wealth and fame. There’s no ideology or barely even planning in him I don’t think. Pretty sure his life is really best described as just the series of the nastiest, most self-serving moves he could think of at each moment along the way, with zero purpose except his own enrichment, both in dollars and fame/what he probably perceives as “power”.
Of course what he seems to see as power or something desirable, everyone not trapped in his S-tier narcissism distortion field sees as just him stating the terms of his own manipulation to whomever wants to take advantage, for mutual benefit. Right in the open. But sure, he’s the tough talker we need on the world stage, lol. Amazing. Sorry, just realized I have reached full tangent mode now, I regret nothing but I’ll end my rant heh.
Lol ah yes, the “fork me daddy!” camp weighing in
I hear ya. Cheers and best wishes!
Not disagreeing and I like that approach. I do want to say, though, that I’ve committed myself to keeping track of some of the egregious stuff that’s going to come and addressing it with the people in my life who voted for Trump and did not properly know / accept what that entailed.
To bring them back, I think we have to find (effective) ways to show them bad things they did not want to happen, that they helped enable, as they occur. It’s tough because I don’t want to turn every interaction into political badgering (and I won’t), but there’s no chance I can stay quiet as the great shitshow unfolds, either.
When did they add blackjack and hookers?! That’s a hell of a feature update
We’ll also assume that destroying the universe takes constant time.
Well yeah just delete the pointer to it!
That’s definitely part of the problem. I had an incident recently where an older family member had a minor panic. Because I left my (mfg in 2006!!) vehicle running in the driveway while I ran inside. During the day. In a very safe suburban neighborhood. Just a flat out absurd concern and she leapt right to it, instantly. She’s always been concerned, she’s a grandma, but she wasn’t pointlessly terrified like this years ago.
I think many of us don’t realize how badly this irrational fear has taken hold, or maybe I should say how effectively this irrational fear has been deployed. Otherwise ~reasonable people are walking around thinking the worst is going to happen everywhere at all times, based on absolutely nothing - worse than nothing, it’s based on weaponized deception.
So the police downplayed a dangerous situation, allowing it to fester and escalate until someone was predictably hurt? Weird!
Got anything to recommend? I’m a dude with butt and thighs that cause me to size up in the waist routinely, else I get the “pocket handles” thing, or just rip stuff lol.
Edit to add, by way of skin in the game: I used to shop for denim with a “tapered” cut (Levis had / has one, for example). If anything I now think they made the problem visually worse, drawing attention to the situation. I now prefer a pretty traditional straight cut, BUT when I’m overweight enough those may as well feel like JNCOs lol. I’m just barely trim enough at the moment to where a typical straight cut doesn’t feel like my ankles are swimming in fabric. Guess it’s Ankle Tents or Apple Bottom Jeans for the Lads, lol. Or be less chubby, in my case.
I think you’re right. I think Netanyahu is extremely clear on what he’s doing and what outcomes he wants.
Oof, somehow this escaped me, even though I participate, while hating it, and thinking at least a bit about that fact along the way. The thing doesn’t have to even be deliberate if it’s effective - accidentally-discovered techniques often work as well as planned/sought ones.
By which I mean, of course this situation is not some deliberate “super-rich cabal” silly scenario, but damn if the levers don’t work exactly that way. My and my family’s future well-being, as a strictly mandatory goal to pursue, is turned into fuel for a machine I hate (contributing to 401k), and the hope I’ve been soft-coerced into is a hope that the hateful thing spits out enough at the end for me to keep:
The folks with the resources and “character” to enjoy, exploit, and move stocks love this. The new yachts we buy them, ridiculous “homes”, and the unbelievably fresh new whatever’s on their idiot status comparison instruments are never-before-seen and even more egregiously wasteful than their awful rivals’.
The folks doing less well than me? I mean we don’t even hear their misery, except in limited outbursts at strange times in retail and food industry settings or other such. The folks actually working themselves to death, SO many of us, are too fucking busy to even properly cry out.
FWIW I upvoted your comment above that got so many downvotes cuz your comment (and edits) felt super reasonable to me.
With that said - it’s been pointed out to you that the reason people are sensitive about this is because of the astroturfing going on right now and the extreme harm that will come if enough people are convinced again (like in 2016, myself hoodwinked by that episode) to not participate. We will get the worst outcome (like in 2016).
No one is mad at your point of view, I don’t think. I bet most downvoters share it, actually. But the stakes are too high, the recent campaign to disillusion voters too successful (2016), and the time remaining too short - you need to quit it, now, or you’ll be rightfully seen as an enemy to progress.
Your points are important. There are more important things right now, though. As hideously distasteful as that is, that is the situation we’re in today. It isn’t my fault or yours, but here we are.
Edit to add: there will be lots of room to push on policy in every direction once this election is over (and “settled”, woof). Any president on their first term tends to work hard, eventually, to secure a second. That’s our best hope of the changes we want, to push on the Harris/Walz administration with everything we’ve got, for round two. Shitty, but again, these are the cards in our hand. We don’t get to deal or swap them now, we only get to play our hand. If we fuck this up, we really may not get more decent hands than this for a long time (and incalculable suffering, borne by the most vulnerable, until we get there).
Thanks, I probably wouldn’t have bothered to watch it if you didn’t post it (just due to fatigue basically), and I’m glad I did. He’s a class act, a real rarity among politicians, and our nation really fucked up by keeping him sidelined.
an exercise in precision engineering with wood
With wood, an hilariously imprecise material (for anyone who doesn’t know). It refuses precision on principle first, and then just on occasion, at every opportunity later.
That delicious (infuriating) imprecision is probably why it can sound so frickin great, though, so…
Look, the image is fine. The transcription you provided, on the other hand? Just way better.
My policy as well. Non-negotiable hard no. But I’m fortunate enough to have at least some choice with regard to employment.
Heard anything about Mullvad’s browser? You seem knowledgeable about the topic. I use their VPN already, still using Firefox for my browser though. I’m further behind the curve than you are, lol.
It was always going to end this way.