The only thing that makes sense in this God-forsaken world.

There are a lot of people more closely related to ostriches than others. I can be denialist about some things but generally am a pessimist so that I can be pleasantly surprised when my predictions come untrue.

On brand

That’s a heartwrenching photo.

I don’t watch baseball but from what I gather, they’re better off letting the fans collectively ump from an app on their phones nowadays.

:3

Andrew had one of the worst days in his hot, wet life.

Based

Yeah, I agree. We need more books like it these days…

I read that last year, actually. Potential spoilers:

Just difference of opinion but I wasn’t a fan. I obviously think the subject matter is interesting and I liked the sociopolitical basis of the story. But I felt it was bogged way down by an author who was trying to make several parts into some weirdly verbose report to give it a sense of realism (I seem to recall an entire chapter being a written-out list of fictional committee names that were being created to fight climate change). At the same time, when he was writing about the terrorist attacks like swarms of drones attacking infrastructure, it felt really vague and Hollywood, dare I say, even boomer-esque. Just a bit lofty for the sake of action.

You’re in good company though, I remember reddit fuckin loved that book so it’s probably just not for me. I’m also sensitive to hype and it didn’t live up to it.

This one is probably bad but I actually really like it.

Thank you for your service!

I’d never heard of Xlite, that’s great. I can imagine what you mean, current stock Windows is always chugging on some unecessary telemetry in the background. Some days I want to buy an old system to put XP on for the nostalgia.

Thank you for your research.

Every one of his photos look like an AI version of House of Cards.

Overall I think our best hope is with organized labor. Join a union or create one.

Great point, I agree with you on that. Joining a union was the best thing I ever did, even though I’m no longer in that industry/active. In order to tackle the money side of this, it’s important to remember that most Americans are all three: workers, voters, and consumers.

For those who can afford to do so: consuming/supporting local goods/services and avoiding national brands/distributors goes a long way. The new McDonald’s that just got constructed in my town is way cheaper than supporting the local food truck but I’m fortunate to be able to support the local guys–I rued the day that McDonald’s broke ground. I order straight from manufacturers when it makes sense, I buy books from small (online) book distributors or used at local small brick and mortar stores. I don’t know if it makes any damn difference but it feels good, I have to speculate it will have a cumulative effect.

If I take a step back, the general throughline of any of these ideas is decentralization. We’re doing it now, right here. For the individual, the easiest and most accessible way to apply it to politics directly is voting in local elections, which is why I first mentioned that. And of course, the very act of voting can be prohibitive for many, I’m not discounting that.

Broad-based protests do work in my mind, and I posit that they sort of have an inverted bell curve effect. Immediately during and after the protests, they raise awareness, draw media frenzy, and stay afloat in current events and discussion. However, months to years later, after the media has moved on and something else is more novel to talk about (like how the West pivoted from Ukraine to Palestine), it can feel like nothing came about, or too little, too late. However in the long term, it seems like a shift can come about that colors the mindset of a generation and those after it. In the case of George Floyd, I’m a white guy and never had many issues with cops. Before that instant I may have even occasionally been a cop apologist when I was younger. But once that event happened and I joined the marches for awareness, I could never see them the same way again. I will now always have my eyes open when seeing cops interact with others. To turn away and pretend every interaction someone is having with a cop is innocent is naive and dangerous, certainly enabling.

Sorry for the ramblings, I’m no poly sci major, I’m probably not even smart enough to write the above with any confidence. It’s all just my opinions there so take it for what you will.

You’re right, my mistake. I just meant the Democratic Party. Not like it isn’t hive minded by corporate lobbying either, but what else is there to do but vote locally? Someone said recently that only voting in presidential races is like only throwing Hail Mary’s.

I actually don’t personally know any Biden supporters to verify that statement. I do, however, know many people who will vote for a second term of this second-quartile-ranked president rather than the bottom quartile anaerobic bacteria that we had before. Those people are very painfully aware that not much is “fine” and the US–and the rest of the worldwide governments–have a long way to go.

Most rational people realize that we don’t need a middling, above-average option as president, we need literal superheros as politicians in all seats of all branches of government. That will never happen. However, I’m one of like a thousand who vote in my local elections (not just general), which is insane considering the size of my district. It all starts small. If you want to dismantle a compromised DNC, tear it out by the roots, not the head.

I’m very glad these folks are standing up for what they think is necessary, even in the face of establishment antagonism and some unhinged cops. I hope this spreads like wildfire. We have bigger things to tackle as a species in the year 2024 than stopping sponsored genocide. The sooner we can put pressure on Israel to cease their onslaught, the better.

I’ve got Office 365 installed so the shortcuts open those local applications.

[…] carrying out what is likely the highest number of protest-related arrests there since the Vietnam War.

That’s pretty telling of the state of things.