drewofdoom

Except the majority didn’t put those people in power when we’re talking about Texas. Texas is not majority Republican. Most of the Democrats are concentrated in the urban areas - Dallas/FW, Houston, Austin, etc. Nevertheless, there’s a nearly 50/50 split in population affiliation. However, the Republicans control the state through a combination of voter suppression and gerrymandering. And, of course, the independent wildcards.

Point is, it’s not the majority who are keeping the state red. It’s the majority of the people who are allowed to vote when calculated in such a way as to make Republican votes count more than Democratic votes. The state is rigged to keep Republican control regardless of the actual majority.

It happens. Apology accepted. You don’t have to downvote yourself, lol.

Thank you for being mature enough to recognize the situation for what it was and to reply with honest self-reflection.

Nice insult, I guess? Is that the new thing instead of calling someone a bot?

Anyways, I guess the explanation of how OP took the traditional brownshirt and updated it to fit the color that represents Trump in order to propose that his fascist forces could be called ‘orangeshirts’ just kinda flew over your head, huh? It’s ok, maybe you’ll get it somewhere down the line.

Oh, I’m firmly against genocide. I’m also against the death penalty. I lean a lot more socialist and am what most on the right would consider an “extreme leftist” (even though my views are pretty much center left when you consider global politics).

I think that relations with Israel are very complex, and Biden is fucking them up. I don’t support what his administration is doing in thar regard.

But I also lived through the last Trump presidency, and I know what is at stake. Most of the astroturfing we’ve seen aimed at the left for the last decade, at least, has been an attempt to suppress the Democratic vote by latching onto a single issue to point to and say, “see! The Democrats are just as bad!”

When people don’t show up for the presidential, down ballot votes suffer, too.

And in the end, will you want to vote for the guy who supports Israel and wants to destroy democracy, or the guy who supports Israel and wants to retain democracy? Because those are the likely choices.

So keep the pressure on. Call your representatives and let them know of your disapproval. But please stop with this, “the Democrats are evil because of this one thing,” bullshit. Politics are complicated, and you should be able to recognize and weigh more than one issue at a time.

If you’re not skeptical of single issue leftists, then you should be more skeptical in general.

We know that there was a LOT of foreign astroturfing in 2016. And 2020. 2024 will likely repeat this trend, but armed with AI.

We’ve already seen one weak “it was AI and fake” argument from Roger Stone. Going to see a lot more of that this year, too.

So he careful who you trust, because they just might have an agenda.

I mostly agree with your response, except for chastising OP about the color of the shirt. They start by mentioning brown, then parenthetically say “orange” as an unveiled reference to Trump.

This is because Trump is known to use a LOT of bronzer that turns his skin an unusual orange color. So what OP was trying to do was to relate the brownshirts to the presumed task force that Trump would create if he became a dictator.

So they’re saying we need a steeper exit tax too? OK, let’s goooooooo

You don’t lose your right to vote just for being arrested. In Colorado, the person would need to be a convicted, currently-incarcerated felon to lose their right to vote. Felons who have completed their sentences (even if they’re out on parole) regain their voting rights.

Foreign policy has nothing to do with fascism. Like literally nothing. Any form of government could do that.

Besides that, Republicans have done just as bad. Oliver North comes to mind…

I mean, I’m not really interested in reigning in spending on things like social programs. I do think the military could get slashed by a very large amount, however. Especially considering how much military contractors over-inflate the cost of absolutely everything they sell the US government. Instead, I’d rather we just pay for the stuff we want to do by decreasing the wage gap by a VERY large margin and fixing the business tax code.

How about we do both? Continue to fund Ukraine in order to provide a stopgap against Russian encroachment and destabilization of Eastern Europe, as well as take care of people in America? It wouldn’t even be that hard.

Tax the rich so they pay their fair share. Use that money to fund social programs and boost the economy for the middle class and lower. Tax businesses to the point where it’s more lucrative to reinvest in their own companies than it is to make massive profits - this promotes raising wages. Cap executive pay to a fixed rate above the lowest-paid employee. Just like that, the ‘richest country in the world’ can act like it and not relegate their poorest to third-world conditions.

But you weren’t interested in a real answer, were you? Just shilling for the alt-right and Russia.

I take your point, but Madoff and Bankman-Fried are the quickest to come to mind. It’s rare, but it does happen, and usually because of financial crimes that affect other billionaires.

I mean, yes. Corporations owning towns is problematic. But the way in which this was handled is significantly worse.

While having their own government generated huge potential for abuse, all signs point toward Disney actually being a pretty good steward. So it’s not like this was some emergency. The takeover of the government could have happened slowly, deliberately, and in a way that did not destroy the district in the process. But that was not the point here. The point was to cause damage to Disney because they dared to disagree with DeSantis.

Notice that none of the other privately-owned towns in Florida are being stripped out. It’s just Disney, and it’s just because of revenge.

Due to the way this was done, an awful lot of people are going to needlessly suffer. Not just Disney employees, either. Disney attracts massive tourism to Florida, and that tourism money ends up all over the state. This is a self-own of absolutely epic proportions on DeSantis’ part, and all of Florida is going to pay for it.

Keep in mind that she won her district by a super narrow margin. After this, I’d say she loses easily next time round. To the point that I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets primaried.

She pays good money for a PR team. Should at least get her money’s worth.

Depends on the state, but finding isn’t really the issue here. It’s a move to a voucher system.

The idea that they are pushing is to privatize the entire education system. Privatization has been a wet dream for Republicans for many years now, and not just in education. It would further corporatize the country and allow for more money that was once ‘the people’s’ to be siphoned into private pockets.

So the state gives money to families with children. Those families send their kids to a private school and give that money (plus probably a lot more) to that private school. Public money flowing into private hands. Add to that deregulation of the industry - no standard tests or textbooks. Education will be chaos.

That’s kinda the point. They actively want the poors to have to send their kids to the ‘budget’ schools. The ones that charge exactly $2700 / yr / student. Broken computers, empty libraries, overworked and severely underpaid teachers, no extra curriculars.

Meanwhile, the oligarchs rich people can send their kids to the schools that cost more, teaches their kids how to be shitty to the proletariat, and has a pipeline directly into colleges.

The whole point of this venture is to siphon even yet more money from the poor into the hands of the rich, meanwhile depriving those same poor of a worthwhile education and giving the rich an even greater advantage.

Oh man, you’re gonna flip your shit when you read Project 2025’s policies.

You got it! We all need a little reminder to take context into account sometimes. And I do appreciate what you were trying to do, which is promote privacy. It’s a laudable goal, and one that I encourage you to continue. Just remember to meet people where they are, instead of where you want them to be. ;)

I think you misunderstood what they are trying to convey.

Yes, it’s quick and easy to install (privacy respecting alternative). But to even get to the point that you recognize that you need that alternative is a time commitment as well. They are so busy trying to stay alive and support themselves that they don’t have the extra mental registers to devote to keeping up with privacy implications of popular software.

Not to mention, some software now suffers from IE6-itis, except this time with chromium. So if a user encounters one of those issues on an important site, they’re more likely to drift over to the chromium side again. That friction alone causes more hardship for a person in their situation than simply giving up some privacy for convenience.

They’re also not even making excuses. They’re simply telling you what the point of view is in their world.

Your current approach presents a holler-than-thou attitude that is rude and off-putting. Ultimately, it’s not your job nor mine to chastise them for their choices. If they’re reading this thread, that shows interest in the topic.

Allow them to discover it for themselves (with guided encouragement and assistance if requested) instead of being guilted into a decision. That will have a much more long-lasting impact.

I see the method you attempt all over the Internet, and it always has the same effect of contributing to a toxic, elitist culture. IMHO, that needs to stop if we have any chance of changing more minds to be privacy-aware.