It’s not the homosexuality, it’s the hypocrisy. I’m hypocrisyphobic

The biggest problem with leaving it up to the states is that the party that is always harping on about states’ rights is a bunch of disingenuous liars who immediately start restricting states’ rights the second the state doesn’t do what they want.

It’s actually something that gives me hope in the world. LLMs are predicting the words they use based on being fed tremendous amounts of data. The fact that they’re having trouble getting them to parrot lies is a good sign that the vast majority of data sources are actually agreeing on the truth. At least that’s how I view it.

If I could make one wish to fix things, it would be to eradicate all externalities. Don’t get me wrong, I’m aware this would absolutely suck for a while. Without some kind of matching increase in wages or subsidies, it would ruin a lot of people that I don’t think deserve it. But when you have to pay for the cost of recapturing the CO2 you produce, when you have to pay for the actual cost of producing the plastic you throw away, we would very quickly get better alternatives. Biodegradable packaging would become more common. Alternatives to gas would explode. Interest in walkable areas and public transit would grow. Industries that really need disposable plastics are also rich enough to afford proper disposal, like medicine and electronics. After enough time, we’d just live in a better, cleaner world with less waste and more care put into our distribution networks.

We only have all the bullshit because they’ve been pushing the bill along to the next generation and the next and the next, and we are seeing the bill come due.

The Secret Service should be trained to arrest or assassinate the President if he openly violates the constitution.

Here’s why I still think of it as a win: It’s not just the contest between two people, or their ideas, or their backgrounds. What you really have to look at is the contest between the propaganda and the budgets. The simple fact is that a lot of voters aren’t that involved, they vote based on word of mouth or advertising, not by looking into the backgrounds of those they’re voting for.

Cuomo outspent Mamdani 4 to 1. Billionaires and politicians went all out to attack Mamdani. Many painted apocalyptic pictures. If you look at those more distant contests, where someone won by a wider margin, I would bet that the advertising and endorsements weren’t so lopsided either.

This isn’t a win for Democrats or Mamdani, this is a win for word of mouth campaigning. This is a win for people being so sick of what’s on offer that many ignored the dire warnings of billionaires and politicians. That’s some good news I can get behind.

It’s really frustrating how often this gets framed as sexist, when it’s a totally different problem. I get why people would equate them but they are very different biological processes. Producing a baby is a complicated process, and there’s a lot of steps that we can intervene in to prevent it. Producing a million sperm is, maybe surprisingly, less complicated and it’s harder to target a specific thing and produce easily reversible results.

Men have had vasectomy on the table for a long time now. It’s just more serious than most forms of female birth control, in terms of implementation and recovery, still not foolproof, and not as easy to reverse.

Even more frustrating is that sexism definitely does exist and play a role. It’s just more about the human parts of the process, like dealing with medical staff, dealing with insurance, dealing with local, state, and now federal governments that want to bar access to women. Looking at the pill side is misplacing the anger.

Holy shit this is a real thing? The most braindead and out of touch marketing executive dreamed this up.

I would think with all that fiber you’d have the opposite problem…

Instead of a static number, you just make it a multiple of the minimum wage. Say, the upper limit is 500 x Minimum Wage x Full Time working hours, or right now about $15.6 million. If you have enough for a person to live 5 lifetimes, then you have enough for you and your family. If you feel that’s not enough, maybe the minimum wage needs improving.

Know your enemy. I feel like your chances of helping deprogram someone are higher if you know what bullshit they’re being fed. Then again I’m batting zero so who knows

I’m thinking walking conveyor belt. Could be fun.

Hey now, it’s not all greedy corporations increasing prices to make more money. It’s also greedy corporations suppressing wages to make more money.

As a parent, I’d be perfectly willing to drive my kids places. But where? Even if I took them to the mall, they’d be labeled “loiterers” and arrested, and if I drove them to the library someone would decide they’re too young to be in public alone and arrest me for neglect.

Don’t get too comfortable with the idea of the US in any way being a roadblock to the UK. Our government is extremely interested in exactly the same kind of bullshit.

tbf I don’t think teenagers generally need the government saying “don’t be interested in sex” to make them more interested in sex.

TBH we need to bring back fireside chats. A more direct communication from President to people. Imagine if that was just the expectation

For my part, if I were President, I would explain what I am working on and who is in my way. Just every week. “This week, my main goal is still universal healthcare. I want everyone to be able to get the medical care they need. Here is a list of the senators currently opposing, and the state they represent…”

Was thinking my response would have to be something like “hold up while I Google something real quick.” I know Ariel is supposed to be 16 but that’s the only one I know.

I interpreted it as general disgust that this is the only thing that seems to have put a real dent in his support from the Republican base. Maybe I’m projecting. Don’t get me wrong, I get why people are upset about it, but it just strikes me as crazy that “oh no, the man who’s a petty tyrant and obviously a rapist and probable pedophile won’t release the files about the pedophile human trafficker” is the straw that broke the camel’s back for so many.

I’d want to know what they count as bullying. The days of movie stereotype bullying like shoving kids in lockers or whatever are gone. Modern bullying is either excluding, underhanded comments, or social media harassment.

Schools haven’t kept up, either. Suppose kid A goes on a targeted harassment campaign online against kid B. B gets mad about it and confronts A at school, maybe even gets in a fight. B will be labeled the bully and aggressor.

Source: Have kids and live with a middle school teacher and attend social gatherings of middle school and high school teachers.