Perhaps in civilized countries it will be used that way.

But for others the appeal of slave labor, political donations, and bloodlust as justice is too strong.

Oh, no! It’s not just harassment!

You can destroy someone’s life and livelihood because you think they’re gay!

Getting fired from a job at a time when the federal gov is actively cutting social supports, and intentionally driving the economy to ruin when most U.S. citizens have meager savings (if any), and are dependent on employer provided health care is an instant path to free fall for most people! Unless those peasants have family that is willing and able to support them, or a high demand skill that will overlook a recent firing (an automatic D/Q on most HR systems), they are going to lose their ability to feed themselves, pay for their housing, and their transportation in this car-poisoned society.

It’s not merely a little ‘fuck you’ but you can end their relationships, destroy their health, prevent them from working in their chosen field, and make them die on the streets! Even barring the most extreme outcomes, the health and financial implications from the stress or loss of income can permanently adjust the trajectory of their life (and the life of everyone that is close to or dependent on them) downward.

Exciting times for soulless bigots!

I don’t disagree that there is a strategy of downplaying not just Biden’s, but every politician’s health conditions.

I used to have this absolutely incredible writing professor, who, at 85, told us on the first day of class that he was dying, and had been for 4 years. He even had a blog about his reflections on mortality that he invited us to read. He had prostate cancer. I don’t remember the details, but they couldn’t operate to remove it or do chemo, but it was the kind that is hormone sensitive. They gave him a drug that destroyed his body’s ability to produce testosterone, so the cancer just stopped growing. He died at 90 - 9 years after his diagnosis. 10% extra life for him.

No two people and prognosis’ are alike but the possibility exists they might be telling the truth about managing it.

Sadly, they aren’t misusing the words because they’re stupid. They’re misusing the words because when the words are applied to them, they can claim the words are meaningless. Just like they did with all the accusations about Hillary in his first term, about Biden during Biden’s presidency, and now about anyone else.

I have no idea how Icelandic folks feel about it, but while there on vacation my wife and I loved it.

Seeing headlines before reading the articles, I thought “could they be growing a conscience?”

Silly, silly me.

For high steaks work, trust A1.

No, as non-experts, we must dismiss the knowledge of experts because their approach is not non-magical pseudoscience bullshit that consists mostly of evocative imagery.

I don’t need no boring particle accelerator! I want an atom smasher that’s been combined with cutting edge AI and the latest in superconducting magnet technology to tame matter down to the subatomic level so it can shoot a laser made of protons into radioactive materials to fundamentally alter its elemental properties so it no longer emits _{(as much)} radiation!

I wonder how Jill is doing.

I had a threesome with an HR lady! Her hair is purple and she has a polyamory infinity symbol wrapped by bands around her wrist in the colors of the bisexual flag.
She’s a cool lady. Great friend and hates being a tool for the man. She’s cool people’s version of Ron Swanson.

Your comment made me think of a video my wife showed me last week. I’m linking to an article about it, but the article contains a link to the video, which is hosted on X.

‘Long live everyone’: Everyone’s obsessed with this Indian teen’s reply to a reporter who tried to make him call for Pakistan’s destruction - DailyDot

I was just thinking about Adafruit, and how pissed they must be.

This is a weird connection to make, but since this started happening, my wife and I have been unintentionally saving money.

I don’t think we’re doing it ‘on purpose’, but instead of the usual stream of random frivolity, we’re just sort of trimming back, and as a result, find ourselves with extra money to transfer to savings when we look at our accounts.
I think we’re both just trying to be ready, should we need extra resources for whatever reason.

I know of an organization attached to a prestigious university that solely exists because at the end of some billionaire’s life, he decided he wanted to chuck some cash into a foundation to try to burnish his image.

But he was so morally corrupt that his version of helping others was to mandate that the foundation focus on “helping” people in developing countries find business opportunities.
Read: they assess how people and environments can be exploited for capitalism while focusing on telling stories about how that exploitation improved the quality of life for people there.
Most of the professors who work with the foundation are very wealthy from their non-academic pursuits.

Not only do I have an increased range of motion, but I (very recently learned) that an old injury is causing spinal stenosis – my spinal canal is narrowing due to bone overgrowth on my vertebrae. (Car accident. I was rear ended.)

About 20 years ago a chiropractor popped my neck by twisting it, and it so freaked him out that he leapt back from the table and did the heebie jeebie dance.
He told me to never let a chiropractor pop my neck by twisting it ever again.
Reasonably certain I could kill myself showing off doing yoga, like in that Dead Like Me episode.

I’ve seen speculation it was a mechanical failure of the arrester system.

How a sailor shortage is crippling ship maintenance at sea – Navy Times

Perhaps plain ol’ mismanagement of resources.

I mean, everyone is already fucked, and that’s what keeps everyone else in check.

Russia has made great efforts to hack municipal systems all over the world, and may actually have some control over Microsoft systems, owing to that credential hack last year that Microsoft still hasn’t confirmed is contained. (Recent Russian hacking campaigns are using malicious signed MSI files, so my bet is no…)

China has all that communication equipment everywhere, with rumors swirling that it’s intentionally compromised. There’s also Tuya, a massive IOT company that produces its own products and also white label products. And there’s all the EV power inverters that can be hacked and used as a botnet to destroy electrical grids. Not that they need to, because apparently they can shut down the U.S. power grid remotely. And who knows what they’ve managed to do with the U.S.’s backdoor access into telecom systems.

The U.S. has its own devices, hacking, and infiltration efforts, although as a U.S. citizen, my awareness of them is decreased due to U.S. media.

But my core point is that there’s basically a digital Cold War happening. And the U.S. is all but surrendering, making successful surveillance, hacking, and sabotage campaigns more likely.
If a situation goes hot at the same time that large parts of U.S. see poisonings or health issues en masse due to tampering with water supply chemical or filtration systems or even the possible destruction of drinking water systems, the explosion of natural gas lines as C&C systems over pressurize domestic lines, followed by a prolonged grid-wide electrical outage, the U.S. will have basically no ability to do anything but focus on domestic issues.

It’s sort of ridiculous how dumb they are. I think you’re right, that they’ve staged a bunch of ships off shore like it’s WWII to be “scary” vs offering up surprise death from above by an enemy the Houthis cannot attack or anticipate, all brought to them by a partnership of their neighbor countries.

The latter is scary in many ways, whereas the former is result of people who confuse TV with reality.

He seemed to know of the shipments being halted after he ordered them to be halted.

I also see this as a move that increases U.S. isolationism. It will trigger reciprocal tariffs, and those will both bolster non-U.S. media production, but harm the U.S. film industry.

One of the U.S.’s greatest exports is its culture. Perhaps not great in a moral or any other objective measure, but the media the U.S. creates is one of its greatest sources of influence (read: soft power) in the world.

Isolating media and giving other nations room to grow is, well, fair play to them, but an unforced error. Another step in the direction of failed statehood.