Monument

@Monument@lemmy.sdf.org

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Monument,

If I’ve had a vasectomy, do I still get to participate?

I’m fine wearing a vest that says “Training Staff”.

^hehehehehe^

Monument, (edited )

He sexually assaulted an exotic dancer and chased her with the gun when she ran away. (Edit: Allegedly.)

This is from a subscription-only news source called Gongwer:

Posted at 12ish PM:

Rep. Neil Friske’s arrest this morning stems from allegations that he sexually assaulted an exotic dancer and then chased her with a firearm, a source familiar with the allegations says.

Lansing police have not released any information about what led to the arrest and jailing of Friske (R-Charlevoix). He remains in the city’s jail. Police have said he will not be arraigned until Friday or Saturday - if the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office authorizes charges.

Posted at 1ish PM:

Jordan Gulkis, spokesperson for Lansing Police, said around 2:45 a.m. on Thursday, officers were dispatched to the 2100 block of Forest Road for a report of a male with a gun and possible shots fired.

Gulkis said the accused was arrested for a felony-level offense but did not specify what.

Other news stories indicate he owns a home in the vicinity of the arrest.

Edit 2: But don’t take my word for it!
GOP Michigan rep and gun-rights supporter Neil Friske accused of chasing a stripper while firing a gun – NY Post
(Sorry it’s a garbage publication.)

Monument,

TW: Suicide/Death/Domestic Violence> Wolfers and Stevenson traced suicide rates before and after divorce reform and found a statistically significant reduction of nearly 6 percent in the female suicide rate following a state’s change to unilateral divorce. There was no discernible change in male suicides. Looking longer term, they found close to a 20 percent decline in female suicides 20 years after the change to no-fault divorce. > The percentage of husbands abused by their wives increased in the 11 states with unchanged laws also, yet remained the same in no-fault divorce states. For women, the change was greatest: Women victims of spousal violence declined by 1.7 percent from 12.8 percent in the reform states in the same period that spousal violence against women increased 2.5 percentage points in the non-reform states. No-fault Divorce Laws May Have Improved Women’s Well-being

Monument,

I mean.
Voters are pawns for political parties, but their understanding of the world is guided by their media. Political parties pretend to be autonomous, but their funding largely comes from corporations.
Media (social and otherwise) is controlled under a handful of large corporations. (The TikTok ban was not about China, it was about corporate governance and the ability of TikTok to sway public opinion.) The U.S. system of government ensures only two possible political parties can exist, and outside efforts cannot succeed.

The net result is that voters have no real ability to affect the outcome of our governance. Nor are the lawmakers inclined to change the system in ways that would harm their political party or their corporate patrons.

This has been the status quo for decades.

The only reason this is now a topic of conversation is because there’s a concerted effort to take the U.S. off the world stage by destabilizing it internally through both tearing apart the social fabric, but also destroying the very flawed but stable political system with fascism.

I’m not sure there is a war to win, for the citizenry, at least.

Monument,

How do you envision change happening?

Every scenario I come up with is foiled by voter suppression measures, micro-targeted ads, influence campaigns, and systemic blocks.

At my most hopeful, I think that perhaps maximally, some of the national issues can be addressed at the state level via ballot initiatives - but that won’t change the federal government. And ballot initiatives move glacially slow compared to legislators who can change the rules and make ballot initiatives nigh impossible.

By voting in liberal democrats - like Obama? Who abandoned his promises once he had power, because resolving issues like abortion is less motivating to voters than using them as wedge issues? Of course, if they vote Democrat, that’s assuming their liberal candidates can rise through the ranks to gain power, vs like, a candidate that is a former Bush CIA torture operative, that is so hated by her constituents that when the district she was in got redrawn to include a better liked (and more liberal) candidate, she moved into the house of a lobbyist to run somewhere she wouldn’t get primaried. And then - when a senate seat opened, The Party emplaced her there by negotiating more liberal, better liked candidates out of the primary, so she can do to America what Manchin and Synema did the last time democrats had a majority.
By voting in third party candidates? Who lack conmity in their local dealings, who only gain that if they manage to elect enough people to gain local power? Which will split the power of the party closest to their political views under our two party system and ensure endless game theory discussions until that third party loses strength to go back into the shadows?

I just… don’t have hope today. Maybe tomorrow.

Monument,

Right now the one that comes to mind is the voucher systems for schools.

Channeling public money into private schools. It drains the education system.

As Reagan’s dismantling of the mental health system showed - once you destroy a public service, you can’t really rebuild it. The buildings are gone, the land repurposed. Now there’s a ‘homeless crisis’ as people do not get adequate care to participate in society.

And when our core populous is educated with a corporate agenda or a religious agenda, who will be capable of upholding the U.S. on the world stage? Will we innovate? Will we keep up military?

Rail transit in the 50’s and 60’s, followed by privatization of buses - leading to mass pollution, economic waste, segregated communities, and a divided society.

Bans on research, or underfunding public research, allowing corporations to tell us that cigarettes, PFAS, PCBS, BPA, Glyphosate, and all number of substances we consume(d) daily are safe. Leaning to massive public health issues.

Cuts to social safety nets, the attacks on the library system, Trump-era underfunding of the IRS, banning the post office from providing banking/passing laws and appointing people who specifically are trying to destroy the postal service, repeal of the FCC fairness doctrine - I could go on, but … sigh.

I think I need to hug my wife. I’m glad we aren’t having kids.

Monument,

I admire and appreciate your optimism and sentiments.

Monument,

I have been receiving texts asking me to confirm that I am going to vote for Biden. They often include a link to some online form where you pinkie swear to vote for him (and have to give up your personal info so they can email you endlessly for fundraising, while sharing your info with every single politician who also pays them for access to their mailing list). These are usually conducted by volunteers - they sign up for various organizations that don’t really tell them the depth of the data collection scheme. (Why volunteers? Enough spam reports for a single number get it blocked by a carrier or deny access to services. And automated systems/new phone numbers cost money.)

I always respond with “You do not need my email to know that I have not decided if the Democratic Party has earned my vote for their candidate.” (Which is true. I think Biden has done no more wrong than any other president, and has done better than most others in recent memory, but the Democratic Party is… disappointing. I will vote for him, but I won’t feel good that my vote benefits the Democratic Party.)

Side note: I use a wireless keyboard that can switch devices. Most of my workday phone typing is done from a full sized keyboard. It’s glorious.

Yesterday one texted back, trying a second time. They received a response so long it takes three screens to scroll through.

Monument,

And if they can underfund schools to the point of dilapidation or causing the district to close and consolidate schools, the district will never be able to reopen the old buildings. The old buildings will fall behind on maintenance until they’re sold or demolished.

The cost to build a school to government standards is staggering. The cost to repurpose a closed down shopping mall or even a closed down school and bring things up to the barest civilian standards is way less. Hiring scab people who meet the minimum requirements to teach - way less than accredited educators that are part of the NEA and take pride in their work.

Once you hit the point of making public schools unmaintainable, the corporations or religious orgs just have to maintain until the buildings get shuttered and they become the monopoly. Then they jack up prices to the point that the school district cannot afford to build new buildings, turning a noble pursuit that bolsters our nation and national defense (a smart populous can defend itself and perform on the world stage), into one that will help drag the U.S. into being a third-world theocracy.

I legitimately don’t understand why nationalists don’t get this. Why they aren’t screaming in the streets about the embrace of capitalism and religion (which require coercion, disempowerment, and limitation of thought to thrive) over a mutually beneficial society and education? Stupid people don’t build strong nations. Poor, afraid, and unhappy people are merely trying to survive. They do not have the wherewithal to invest energy into their community, much less take pride in their nation.
Their idiotic ideas are undercutting their actual ideals.

Monument,

My dog eats shoe soles when she gets separation anxiety, and miraculously, she hasn’t managed to need surgery (for that) yet.

That one was free, but the next dog fact is gonna set you back $10k.

(And we know the shoes are an issue. The last 3 were a friends shoe that was accidentally left here in a place we didn’t spot them, our dog sitter’s mom’s shoe (from her closet!), and my wife’s shoe from the ’no dog area’ when we forgot to close a baby gate.)

Monument,

What’s the consensus on the rules of the game for the chosen card?

Would a Cards Against Humanity black card, which does not require mana to play, be playable? Would other players have to ‘respond’ with a card from their hand?

If you get multiple of these (or recall from graveyard) can you play the card if you also bring in the activation mana/cost whatever?

Is mana equitable across games? If you pull a card from a game that uses the same color mana as your deck, can you play the card? (For example, the game Not Enough Mana uses blue mana that is represented by a water drop.)

Monument,

Try putting a space between the octothorp and the text.

Try putting a space between the octothorp and the text.

Monument,

Today I feel like telling you all some trauma because I’m avoiding work while I wait for Adderall and coffee to do their thing.

Many years ago I was a highly ignored, heavily traumatized kid. Despite living in a fairly big metro area, I lived on a long dead end street that was accessed via a 4-lane road that was technically a highway. The side near to the highway had several businesses with no close homes along the highway, and the 7 houses on the street were deeper in. There were some kids my age and they also were mostly ignored and heavily traumatized.

The neighbors parents were interesting. They were sort of like mine. Dad was blue color, an addict/drunk. Mom was a nurse. They weren’t financially okay as us. My dad had been given a successful plumbing business by my mom’s dad, but their dad drove a dump truck for a construction company. Their mom was an LPN (licensed practical nurse/lower paid nurse), and my mom was an RN (registered nurse - higher pay).
Weirdly, our parents didn’t seem to get along.

I always regarded their mom as being a better mom. She loved having kids, and really cared about her boys. And me, too, when I stayed with them. When she went to work, she packed lunches for us. At my house it was ‘find what you can.’ Anyway - their dad, though. He would spend his entire paycheck the day he got paid. Sometimes he’d buy something dumb - a new TV to set on top of the TV he’d bought just 6 months before, a bunch of fishing gear he’d use once before realizing he didn’t like fishing, shitty plastic chrome ‘upgrades’ for his car. But mostly, he spent it on booze. He even sometimes took us to the bar with him. We loved it - ordering virgin daiquiris at the American Legion and poorly playing pool at a table we could barely see over while he got intensely drunk. Then he’d careen down side streets to take us back home. He came across as jolly and even happy to most folks, but when his guard was down he was intensely angry, and very emotionally abusive. Once, and only once, in my teens, he even attempted to become sexually abusive, but apparently it is possible for two 14 year olds and a 13 year old to topple and hog tie a 500lb man.

I’d already started to fall out with the boys by then. My life path had taken my different places. My parents split up when I was 6, and by the time I was 8, we lost the house, and my mom had moved across the country to escape my dad, who died maybe a year and a half later. We came back to the area and I resumed my friendship, but from a different part of the city, and different schools. The older brother, who I’d always been friends with had changed. He got mean. He started picking on people for fun. Started thinking being an asshole was funny. The younger brother became more of my friend. He was kind, but always tried to please folks. He kept getting traumatized by now not only his dad, but his brother.
We hung out a few more times, but really, the last time I hung out with them was when I was 17ish. I drove over intending to hang out for a bit, but ate something that triggered an allergic reaction and wound up taking a bunch of Benadryl and staying the night. Their mom out to work a double overnight - I think I saw her in the morning before I left. At that point their dad had stopped working due to health issues. They had a girl there - 15-16ish, and apparently the dad was giving her his Vicodin, presumably in exchange for money (god, I hope it was money). She was gone in the morning before mom came home, but apparently she just hung out there while mom was at work and went into the nearby woods while she was home.

Their dad died about 5 years later, and at the funeral, I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. I had nothing nice to say. There’s a lot more that I cannot convey in this comment to you, reader, nor that I can even fully recall, but I remember looking at this family with that deep well of experience and emotion. They were my childhood best friends. Two damaged people that really, really didn’t get a fair shake. Both boys wearing stained T-shirts because they didn’t have nicer clothes. Didn’t finish high school. Didn’t have jobs. And the mom, who loved them all, and never got supported.

Leaving, I talked to the oldest. He said he was ‘working with’ a cousin that was showing him how to drive a big truck on the sly, so that maybe he could start driving dump trucks.
We stopped at his car, and he asked me if I wanted to go drinking with him - he told me he was gonna get shiftfaced. It was a Tuesday at 11 AM.
I politely declined as I read his bumper sticker - the first time I’d ever seen one - “Ass, Grass, or Cash, no one rides for free.”

It struck me as really sad and appropriate.

Monument,

Thank you. I appreciate the head’s up. And I appreciate that you’re out here spreading the word. We need folks looking out for others.

I am aware of the risks, but I have a use case, as much as I don’t like that I do. I have an unknown food allergy that crops up randomly. I’m not even sure if it’s a singular food allergy or if it’s an allergy that only occurs when certain foods are combined.
In the situation above, my face swelled similar to how Will Smith’s face swelled in the movie Hitch (except it was my forehead/scalp). I was 17 and did not know what an anaphylactic reaction was at the time, and we were all so poor that we just did not go to the hospital. Fortunately, the last time it occurred was 15ish years ago (and we got the reaction before any swelling occurred), but I do still keep some around, just in case. It’s definitely not something I use normally.
I hope that my daily allergy medication use (Allegra) will help stave off any future reactions.

Monument,

Honestly, no. I have mentioned it to my doctor, but for something that occurred once every 2-4 years from the ages of 9 to 22 (Oh, crap, I guess it’s been almost 20 years since the last flair up), they viewed it as a low priority when I got health insurance and got over my fear of asking for medical help in my early 30’s. (Cost reasons, not doctor phobia.)

Which I get - “Hey doc, I have an allergy to something - I don’t know what it is and it hasn’t occurred in 10 years. What do we do about it?” They gave me the advice I was already following - which, 10 years ago, was to take Benadryl and record the ingredients for everything I ate, so we could try to figure it out. I will slip a line into the document I keep for my yearlies to ask after what is an appropriate replacement for Benadryl, however.
Although, with my current knowledge and economic level, I’d probably just rush to the ER if anything above my chest swelled up. My insurance will blunt the cost just fine and I’ve got too much going on to choke to death.

Monument,

We do what we must. But sometimes the best self care is just those few minutes we claw back from the hustle and bustle.

Monument,

Wait. Are the Trump folks sharing those memes because they’re so stupid they’re funny?

I guess I’ve always found Trump so offputting and taken white nationalist christian fascism so seriously that I never considered those to be shitposts.

Monument, (edited )

The next one will be Slotkin out of Michigan.

Democrat. Former CIA ‘analyst’ during the Bush 2 Iraq years.
Ran unopposed for a house seat in a “blue wave” (semi-competitive rural) district in 2020 and barely got 1% more than her opponent. Redistricting would have gotten her primaried in 2022, so she moved into the house of a lobbyist for 4 months to run without democratic opposition in a newly created district with a few cities, won with 0.5% of the vote. Then moved back to her house out of district because it’s only illegal to be elected if you live out of district.
When a senate seat unexpectedly came up, several other well-liked, progressive or at least middle of the road (and known) candidates expressed interest, and were rumored to have been offered concessions by the Democratic Party not to run. She’s now in a primary battle with a C grade actor that self-financed and gets no positive press coverage. It’s very obvious which candidate the establishment has picked for Michigan.

She’s widely hated by her constituents, because she talks of being a progressive but votes in line with big business interests. And voters will hand her an undeserved seat that she’ll use for the next 6 years to ruin people’s lives.

Monument,

For those who saw the word “never” and had a record scratch happen in their head.
(As I did, so I did some furious research to play the role of the smartest person in the room, and merely came away more educated than before.)

This fellow died of H5N2. The strain that has been infecting cattle (and humans) is H5N1.

Monument,

I’m a fan of the rock that slightly blurs into a talon, but I also can’t sleep on the hammer that looks like it has a particularly knobbly pair of pliers shoved up its bottom.

Monument,

Same. Then I got diagnosed for ADHD, went on (prescribed) methamphetamines and realized I was binge eating.
In the last year I’ve lost 40 lbs (~18 kg) because I no longer eat second meals after a meal.

Monument,

I think those are kangaroo hands and feet.

Monument,

So - I don’t think Firefox would be generating captions for PDFs on PDF creation.

But of the major ways that PDF’s do get created - converted from text editors or design software, I know that Microsoft Word automatically suggests captions when the document creator adds an image (but does not automatically apply captions), and I believe that some design software does, as well.

I think that, functionally, both suggesting captions at time of document creation, or at time of document read are prone to the same issues - that the software may not be smart enough to properly identify the object, and if it is, that it is not necessarily smart enough to explain it in context.
By way of example, a screenshot of a computer program will have the automatic suggestion of “A graphical user interface” (or similar), but depending on the context and usage, it could be “A virus installer disguised as ___ video game installer.” Or “The ___ video game installer.” Between the document creator and the creation software or screen reader, only the document creator would really know the context for the image.

Which is all to say that I think that Mozilla has the right idea with auto-tagging, but it will always fail on context. The only way to actually address the issue is to deal with it within the document creation software.
But I wouldn’t be opposed to ML on those that can auto-suggest things or even critique how content authors write their descriptions.

Monument,

Tell them the ultimate expression of masculinity is confidence and security in themselves regardless of societal expectations.

And then get their measurements, just in case you see something good on sale.

Monument,

I think that might be an overly romantic or simple view of large organizations and their ability to get work done, lest of all government work.

I don’t know the specifics of the implementation plan for this, nor do I know the governance of the chargers moving forward.
After the chargers are installed, they have the be maintained and otherwise overseen in some way. That means they have to fit in some sort of governance structure. This can take the form of delegating to subagencies, or establishing agreements between agencies so that the federal government can get these things built. If they place them at rest stops, which seems like a good place, they just have to get an MOU in place with the Dept of Transportation.
But what about underserved communities? Who determines those communities? (Figuring out not just what constitutes metrics for eligibility, but also coming up with maps indicating those areas is going to be a research project that takes time to figure out.) Once underserved areas are figured out, how do you work with them? Do you place chargers at local parks? Do you partner with local businesses to place chargers?
Each location to be installed is likely going to require contracts with whoever is in charge of the property, and then also working with city, county, and state authorities and utilities to ensure building permits, power, leasing rights, and other specifics. If these are being installed on property belonging to other levels of government, how does the monitoring device connect to the internet? Most governments don’t allow unvetted devices onto their networks, so every government at each level will need to do security audits of the hardware (even if the security audits are bullshit). If the local or state government is hostile to electric vehicles or heck, even just the Biden administration, how will permitting and contract approvals go? Will localities pass laws to prevent chargers from being built, or tax them egregiously? Will the local authorities require onerous rules to make it painful to build them? If the local utility insists that the local transmission lines can’t carry the power needed for the charger and they need either a payment to upgrade the distribution lines, or to set forward a rate case to up their utility rates, those sorts of things can take years to figure out, much less execute. And then vendors - with each player, will they require their own license agreement with the vendor? Does each vendor use only components that the Federal Government deems trustworthy? These will have to get hooked into computer networks, and the Fed may not want some random networking chips with known security vulnerabilities in any network cards. Many states require that vendors do not have an endemnity clause in their contracts, so the vendor can be sued. This usually requires serious renegotiation of every contract for every player, and that can take months for just one phase of each project.

There’s so many moving pieces to this, and I guess I want to caution against viewing it as a single person deciding to do something.
It’s more like 500 or so people working with about 5k people, who may be intentionally setting roadblocks, or within the jurisdiction of others who are setting roadblocks, while also working around a complex and convoluted system that could be exploited by others for their own greed.

I’ve heard the pace of this project will speed up with time. It’s just a matter of getting some groundwork out of the way. Or not! Because who knows how the election will proceed and ensuring national security via robust transportation infrastructure will be one of the first things republicans kill - likely using justification that progress wasn’t made fast enough.

Monument,

And all of them have jobs that aren’t this one program.

It’s way, way harder than than you think it is.

I have to work with a vendor on a three year contract cycle and negotiations take so long we never stop. We just finish one 3-year ELA and start the next. There’s nothing easy or fast in any of that.

Monument,

The ending of that one is just really charming and sweet.

Monument,

Oh, man. I remember coming into awareness of his movie a bit late, and while I think I watched it, I don’t think I paid attention to it. But catching bits and pieces of Super-Size Me prompted me to watch both Food, Inc, and Fast Food Nation within about a two-week span of each other, and since I saw those videos (early 2009), I’ve not eaten a burger from a fast food place, since.

Heck, my wife decided not to eat beef a few years ago, and it was really easy to just write it off, since I’d already been removing dubious meat sources from my life. (Or trying to, anyway.)

Not singularly life changing for me, but definitely added some weight behind decisions.

Monument,

Or… one is bad and the other one is way worse.

The thing that always amuses me about this is that Iran was a burgeoning liberal democracy until the CIA and MI6 toppled it in 1953, installing a previously overthrown autocrat (overthrown by said forces of democracy), who ruled until 1979, when he was overthrown by religious hard liners, who really only had mass support because the autocrat was too authoritarian.

And the reason the U.S. and Britain overthrew their democracy? They nationalized their oil industry to give profits back to their people, which entailed taking over refineries and wells ‘owned’ by British Petroleum.
The U.S. created their own boogeyman in the area because they wanted to give a corporation near-free access to Iran’s oil. Which in turn lead to the oil crisis and instability in the region.
The U.S. has really got to stop trying to put out fires while covered in crude oil.

Monument,

Love the energy, but it’ll get filed away with campaign finance reform, making the election day a federal holiday, fixing the VRA, un-fucking the ACA, codifying a right to medical access for women, preventing stock purchases by congress and their family, expanding the courts, rebalancing the legislature, and like a couple dozen other things I can’t think of right now.

Monument,

My wife is so offended by Lobster font that I’ve heard her exclaim “Fucking LOBSTER?!?” from half a kitschy restaurant away.
I text her photos when I see it in the wild. I’m about to send her this meme. And then I’m going to send her a screenshot of this comment, and she’s going to be both very annoyed and want to kiss me.

Monument,

It’s sort of interesting to realize that even though it’s still only May, I haven’t seen much of any campaign signs out. That may change, but I vaguely recall a plethora of yard signs, even in May 2020.

Heck, even the one sign I did see put up - One for RFK that went up in February - was taken down about a month ago.
I sort of feel that everyone is a bit wishy-washy this cycle.

Monument,

I do live in a small city, so that probably factors. When you get out of population centers, you do pretty readily see Trump bumper stickers, other random political messaging on vehicles, and I’m sure if I went into rural towns, I’d see more yard signs.

On a highway outside of town, there was a farm that had a quarter billboard-sized Trump 2016 sign facing the highway from 2016-2020. It was changed to a 2020 one, but after the election, someone spray painted “Pussies” on both sides of it in neon pink marking paint.
It stayed that way for a few months, but now it’s a for sale sign.

Monument,

They aren’t just writing blank checks with no oversight and no reporting on the outcome of what happens with that money? What kind of government are they running!?

Monument,

There’s just no incentive. The market is going to dictate that carriers allow this to happen.

It has to be regulated. But “the market” also has its hand in congress’s underpants - the same congress that passes laws, and approves assignments, so only “approved“ people make their way to regulatory positions.

Monument,

Don’t lie to us, and stop lying to yourself.

For over 100 years zionists have been terrorizing and committing genocide there. They killed or pushed out the Muslims, they disenfranchised the Christians until they left. They’re currently clamping down on Jewish people who don’t believe in Zionism.

They have always pushed. Every treaty, every agreement. Every legal attempt to stop the violence has been ignored, or discarded under paper thin or faulty pretenses. Terror is often the last resort of a people who have no other options. (Unless western nations give you billions of dollar in weapons and force other nations to recognize your presence, then you can call it statecraft!)

For zionists and for Israel, the goal has always been to paint the land red with non-believer blood and to destroy every bit of culture that isn’t ‘theirs.’
That’s why they bomb mosques and universities. That’s why they bomb infrastructure. That’s why the West Bank has been split into tiny enclaves. They’re choking the life out of the land so they can plant the seeds of their hollow society on barren soil.

Monument,

How did you know?!? I have to admit, my beliefs were really hard to come by. I almost didn’t have them!

I read Exodus when I was 13 and I believed it. A few years later, a history teacher challenged me to write a research paper over Israel for my IB history class, so in spring of 2002, I had to work so hard to find anti-Israel propaganda. I didn’t really find any in news media, but I went to the school library, and those people are absolute radicals!
They had books from the 1960’s that discussed Jewish settlers forming militias and attacking “moslem” civilians and burning their family farms. It totally blew my mind that Ben Gurion coordinated terror attacks on British officials in the region, so Britain would withdraw and let the Zionists massacre Palestinians - which they did within weeks of Britain formally withdrawing from Palestine in 1948.
Finding all those anti-Israel accounts of things they actually did was a lot of work!

I got an A on that paper, though.

Where and how did you learn what you know?

Monument,

Yet you’ve offered no comment that wasn’t surface level. When pressed, you fell back on insinuating others were uninformed or intellectually lazy. Claims you failed to substantiate.

Your comments lack substance. Your positions lack support. You fail to engage intellectually, and the embarrassment you feel at being outclassed is palpable and plainly visible.
You are naked and shameful.

Monument,

They have teeth. But half of the people who decide whether or not they pursue charges against someone are republican appointees.

So, you know… teeth, but corrupted leadership.

Monument,

Stories about Trump are so annoying because there’s a decision matrix when it comes to upvoting/downvoting, ignoring or reading.

When I see news articles about another wannabe fascist with a questionable business and personal history who made their success using family money and the exploitation of others that is completely irrelevant to me, I just downvote the story and move on.

But Trump is different because in addition to the above, I also know he is actually dangerous. While it’s true he is stupid, lacks the ability to plan things, and in a sane society would never be allowed to run for office, it is also true that he’s surrounded by smart handlers and sycophants who have helped him tilt the scales of justice, and will empower him to break every conceivable norm and law to instill himself as a dictator/useful idiot.
So I don’t want to just downvote and move on, since ignoring a threat is… well, dumb.

I hate that I have to ask myself if a story is something that I need to upvote for the sake of awareness, or if I can disregard it as more media fellatio of an undeserving scumbag for the sake of clicks.

Monument,

I don’t really disagree in present circumstances.
But I feel it’s necessary to characterize it correctly. Characterizing the FEC as a whole to be deficient when it’s a few bad actors temporarily at the head of the FEC could be used as justification by other bad actors or well-intentioned but misled people to undermine the FEC - which would make it deficient should the leadership issues be corrected.

Sort of the game that conservatives play with government services. Cut the funding until the service is flagging, then use that as justification to either further cut the budget or reduce the scope of the service until the service is no longer a real government service.
Can’t let ourselves buy into that.

Monument,

That’s a great and succinct way to describe that.

Monument,

I wish there was a store with all sorts of food additives the regular person doesn’t have access to, like dehydrated buttermilk, or whatever artificial and natural flavors is.

Monument,

But I’m old and I like to shop with my feet and ADHD fueled puppy-like enthusiasm. If the staff leaves me alone and there aren’t many people there, I’d wind up with a whole chemistry lab of barely regulated food additives.

I’d have whole brunches with solid mimosas (agar), and fully cooked liquid eggs (I don’t know, but I’d do it. I’ll find something that prevents the proteins from tangling!). My friends would hate me.

Monument, (edited )

The actual food items I suggested were a bit of a joke, but the food science and baking store suggestion you offered are excellent.

It looks like the closest fit for a baking supply store is a Williams Sonoma, otherwise I’ve got an hour+ drive of me. But it’s on the list for next time we travel to more populous cities!

Edit: A local (hour drive away) baking shop has a pretty comprehensive website. I’ve learned that Vanilla powder exists and I might wind up buying edible metallic powders to put on things that shouldn’t be those colors.
We’re doing a ‘super soft’ birthday for one of our dogs this year. My whole paradigm for decoration and (human) foods has shifted.

Monument, (edited )

Wow, he really slammed him.

Joking aside, I really appreciate that Bernie is speaking up. (And to a lesser extent that the headline doesn’t fall back to that overused descriptor.)

Monument,

I’m not saying I wouldn’t have mixed feelings about it, but I don’t think I’d have reservations about a politician that put on a luchador mask or dressed up like an 80’s wrestler and said the right things in absolutely batshit ways during press junkets and campaign appearances. And then, obviously, did those things in non-batshit ways while on the clock.

Saturday night: “I’m gonna slap Netanyahu like a bitch!”
Monday morning: “I’ve introduced legislation to suspend all military aid and arms sales to Israel immediately. Resumption of aid and/or arms sales is contingent upon the outcome of the ICJ war crimes investigation.”

Monument,

Oh. Yup.
Your point in the first comment flew right over my head, but I agree fully.

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