What if you were born in the wrong place and your family got gunned down or buried under rubble because the enemy thought a hostage (or their dead body) was in a building at the end of your street?
You can’t always assume you’re the one who is both on a righteous quest and in possession of superior firepower.
Iirc, didn’t he give Trump a much higher chance of winning than other outlets, even though it was still a small chance compared to Hillary?
Those of us who pay attention and give a shit would vote for her, but Biden (or what’s left of him) already has our votes whether we like it or not.
But for the people who are disconnected or ignorant enough that they aren’t already itching to vote against Trump? They can be influenced by the dumbest things.
I personally agree that one of those two being President would be great.
But then I think of the cold hard reality of who I share this country with. All the people out there who, in the face of Trump being Trump, can somehow be undecided or unlikely to vote. They just don’t seem like the type to get off their ass for somebody who will be characterized as extreme.
We here know they aren’t extremists. We know they’re basically centrists within the larger civilized world. But ignorance is a huge part of the problem for the US voters who are indifferent enough towards Trump that they aren’t already lining up to vote for Biden or anybody who takes his place.
C’mon baby you know you like our big throbbing F-22s and aircraft carriers!
Seriously though, if we manage to reelect the criminal and he pulls us out of NATO, I trust you guys to keep it running.
Young me: education! Work hard! Plan ahead! Prepare for the future!
Old me:
At this point it’s pretty easy to imagine a governor or president giving the SC the finger and doing what they want.
Unfortunately when I see that play out in my mind, it’s a Republican doing it. Yes, even though the SC is biased in their direction.
Yet another thing that tens of millions of people across the country would instantly lose their job for, made even MORE ok for the people who can cause the most damage by doing it. Every corporate conflict of interest training I’ve taken at current companies makes it abundantly clear that even the APPEARANCE of a POTENTIAL conflict needs to be disclosed and handled appropriately. Never mind there being literal, in writing, cash money kickbacks.
When it comes to having lower standards for state officials given special powers than we do for random schmucks, at least we’re consistent. From the lowest local cop to the highest federal politicians, why do we not only refuse to set standards but also remove ethical expectations?
It’s like a large language model, it rhymes.
No ü
but how does it get lift if it is prevented from accelerating from 0 to 1 km/h of ground speed
That’s the thing - it is not prevented from accelerating. The wheels are functionally frictionless. That’s why planes have brakes. The plane pushes on the air to move, & the treadmill could accelerate backwards until the plane’s tires explode.
I’ll sign this pact too.
Once I’m into the top 1000 net worths on earth (practically a given to happen), I’ll just retire.
If my valuable assets force me into the top 100 (more likely than not), I’ll hire somebody to find good charities to prop up.
If I stumble into the top 10 billion/trillion-aires, go ahead and do what you gotta do and remind my widow to do nice things with the estate.
Tribalism I guess. My family, friends, town, country, etc are the good people. The others are bad.
That and bigotry. They’re basically two sides of the same coin though.
It’s amazing how the powers that be have gotten our culture to the point that so many people give zero shits about their fellow humans. People living paycheck to paycheck on median incomes still have the “fuck you; got mine” attitude.
Everybody in this country needs to lift themselves up by the bootstraps and do what I did: have a chronic disease that is so ridiculously expensive to treat that the pharma company pays your deductible and out of pocket max for you so that you’ll stay on it. Then you get actual coverage for the rest of the year!
I’m a software engineer and my health insurance pays out significantly more than my gross pay every year. U-S-A!
Off the top of my head, these are the kinds of things my conservative family members or distant acquaintances would say and agree with:
What if somebody else gets more than me?
What if somebody who doesn’t “deserve” benefits gets them?
Why should I give a shit or have to pay for other people? (Unaware of how insurance itself works)
The economyyyyy!
Does he think Europe has cut-rate health care? Canada?
Assuming we’re talking about one of my fellow Americans? Yes. He’s been conditioned to think that.
People are certainly susceptible to Rosy Retrospection, but let’s not forget that 2023’s word of the year was enshittification for a reason!
I’m glad I got caught up in the great exodus when they fucked over the 3rd party app devs. I’d read Reddit with Apollo, and it was mostly passive consumption of the posts and discussions being thrown out there by the faceless masses.
Here, it feels more like having actual discussions with real people, and I started actively participating right away. (Granted, this place isn’t impervious to bots and trolls, but for now it’s a smaller target at least)
The “every accusation is a confession” rule suggests that he was on some meds to help him keep his composure. Definitely not any truth serums though.