I’m sure he was a swell guy, a lot of fun at barbecues, dog lover and good with kids yada yada. Plenty of awful folks in history are like that. I hear Hitler was a fun guy who liked dogs and kids too.

…well not ALL kids but still

He almost sold the occupation to me. Bajor, a fractured society, technologically stagnant, riddled with inefficiencies, gifted with order, infrastructure, and industrialization from the Cardassian People.

Fascism isn’t so bad right?

Yeah but you can’t use big words like pernicious with them, remember they can’t read and many have lead poisoning so stick to Dr Seuss level language or lower.

I did a few game theory simulations in college and they were always real interesting. In one of them for example, it was a multiplayer game, with multiple interactions. I think it was to simulate global trade basically: you could cooperate with as many players as you want and each time you cooperate you both get a point. If you defect then you get two and they get none. However, all the players could see what the other players are doing, so if you defected they would know and probably would play (trade) with you. The best way to win was to form as many connections as possible and fully cooperate the whole time.

I formed maybe like 20-30 connections with other players and didn’t defect. Each point was worth a few cents or something. So I walked out with a check for like $20-$50 or something. Many players walked out with nothing because they cheated too many people too many times and nobody wanted to trade with them.

Therefore, clearly, the best economic policy is protectionism, tariffs, trade wars, and fucking over both allies and enemies, right? Right?!?

By far the smartest show ever written and it’s not even close!

Gaming is going to be at the bottom of the list, there, saved you a few minutes of googling.

On the plus side, now I know how I’ll react to the news of an impending asteroid/meteor strike.

Dibs on this guy for the post fascist apocalypse team https://www.reddit.com/r/fightporn/comments/181lu0h/this_gay_dude_what_not_having_it/?rdt=39158

You and me both. It’s been a joke for decades but I ain’t laughing. I think we are the first wave. Either we are overreacting and go back whenever if we want, or…well, I don’t want to think about the “or” scenario…

Wait, the neighbor called the cops on you, and you still bought the place? Dang

My grandparents were holocaust survivors and what you just said is all I’ve been thinking about the last couple weeks, few months really. I keep imagining I went back in time to Berlin 1932 and have a chat with the family. They’re gone now but I’m 100% convinced they would tell me to fucking run. I’ve got the opportunity and means right now the get the fuck out while the getting is good. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while now anyway. People migrate all the time with nothing but the shirt on their backs, and I can do significantly better. Worst case, I come back in a few years with some more international experience. Best case…well…best case is still a pretty bad scenario, because it means I made the right decision, which means…bad stuff…

As we have learned over the last few years, laws are only as strong as their enforcement mechanism. If the institutions responsible for upholding the law fail to do that, or even enable violating the law even more, then the law is useless.

That’s basically my only hope. Incompetence, bickering, infighting, and just generally falling apart from within their own hate machine as these kinds of ideologies tend to do.

We are past this though. I remember screaming this into the air at the radio listening to Jack Speer on NPR in 2016. He was going on and on about the awful things Trump was saying and how we shouldn’t be hearing this. I screamed then why the fuck do you keep repeating it Jack, why?!? I blame the media 100% for his election in 2016, all that free publicity. 2024 though…I really don’t have any answers…

First in education, clearly that means education makes you lib’ral, and gay! And trans!

Could you share more about your trans siblings? I had understood that being transgender was relatively uncommon, and I realize there may be genetic or other factors involved. It’s new to me that multiple members of a family might identify this way, and I’d love to learn more if you’re open to sharing. Thanks!

Well thank goodness the US just elected a person and party that are totally dedicated to climate change mitigation! And our political process in general is well oiled and poised for real meaningful change! And the American people all acknowledge the existence of the problem and in no way deny it, and are all united in fighting the clear and present danger it poises!

Isn’t that completely missing the point of this post? 15-20 is old enough to have some experience, opinions, thoughts, hopes, fears, dreams, etc.

I’m really torn because overall my family and I have decent relations and they aren’t the totally fucking insane Maga types. But I’m so incredibly disgusted, ashamed, and terrified, I can’t just go over and pretend everything is normal. We are so far past politics as usual and the ebbs and flows of power/control. So idk what to do. I’m probably going to skip and stay home and order a pizza and smoke all day and watch LOTR or something, just can’t take this shit anymore idk

Me too. Are you telling them why? I’m leaning towards cutting them all off, going full no contact, saying exactly why, and moving to either a blue state or out of the country for a while (which I have the means to do).