I hope so. My next car was going to be a Toyota or a Honda, and… well…

The thing is that, afaik, coincidentally gerrymandering by race isn’t sufficient to get the map thrown out. It has to be intentionally gerrymandered by race, with evidence to support such an assertion.

And the incredible thing is that Republicans can’t keep their damned racist mouths shut, and they keep incriminating themselves by either saying the quiet part out loud or getting so specific with their gerrymandering that it’s no longer plausible that it’s just a coincidence.

They’d get away with it if they were smarter (but then, if they were smarter they wouldn’t be racists)

You misunderstood. They mean that the vaccine is still protecting from the strains that ARE in it, so it’s not reasonable to forego the vaccine just because of one strain that’s not in it.

Fascists love what the military and police represent (to them, strength and order) but any individual who deviates from the script is a traitor who deserves to have their life ruined or worse.

Just look at Kegbreath’s speech to all the generals. Fascists don’t care about reality (whether those generals were competent) but only care about the appearance of power (facial hair and too much weight around the middle don’t “look powerful” and therefore are as bad as treason).

I had no hope of a general strike, but if Democrats continue to hold out on the budget then it might happen as families run out of food, government employees get evicted, and more and more MAGA become disillusioned.

So now I have a little hope, but still very little. It seems to me that the fascists want a general strike so they feel more justified in a military crackdown. Things are still going to get worse before they get better.

SCOTUS said POTUS is immune for official acts.

I’m sure there’s no conflict of interest involved with that or anything, though. And besides, what could go wrong?

Porqué no los do–

is suddenly dragged off by masked men with guns

It certainly wouldn’t be the desired outcome! But the point is that there’s money to be made either way.

When the French Blue was stolen after the revolution, it was recut and probably became the Hope Diamond.

If they can’t find a buyer, they’ll melt it down and recut any gems that are too recognizable. Easy money, if you know the right people.

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And fascism

Yup, this is what I’ve heard too.

The crazy thing is that the real reason is pretty woke too (mpox is language neutral, while monkeypox is explicitly English) but learning the real reason behind something is antithetical to their belief system so instead they make up shit they think a lefty would say instead.

You’re almost certainly correct, but fascism doesn’t follow logic. It’s merely seeks power. Even if giving up the tiniest bit of power would be a better strategy, fascism will eventually try to grab that power back.

Fascism craves power. The mere existence of a second party is a threat to that power, even if it’s an unrealized threat. But the potential is still there. Fascism will always seek to create a single-party state for this reason.

Up vote.

The word “currency” is used interchangeably with “money” but it’s actually a lot more specific. “Currency” is money that is “current” not in the sense of time (“here/now”) but in flow, like a river.

When there isn’t enough money to flow through an economy, it stops being "currency"and gets abandoned in favor of something else that can sufficiently fulfill the role of money in the economy.

So you’re absolutely right. When that fiscal river dries up, the American dollar will become worthless. History shows that something else will fill the gap, but those sorts of transitions take a long time and aren’t without their human cost.

You make some perfectly valid points, the only thing I take issue with is

Money is actually pretty useless

So, I do historical reenactment and one of my focuses is the history of money. Money has been in use, in some form or another, all over the world, for about ten thousand years. Roughly twice as long as written language.

Again, I agree with what you’re saying about time and how important it is. But go back to when humans had huge swaths of free time and you still find money. It’s just INSANELY useful.

I mean, I do believe in the power of friendship.

But yeah international law is a joke.

Voting FOR trans rights accomplishes nothing beyond making sure that trans people have rights.

Voting AGAINST trans rights undermines the freedom and safety of everyone.

I don’t disagree about anything you said, just a quick note because it’s a term that’s worth understanding:

“Newspeak” is a concept based on the dumbing down of language in order to make communication more difficult and complex concepts almost impossible. It’s not just new words or phrases. If it’s not damaging our ability to think and communicate, it’s not Newspeak. For this reason, “politically correct” alternatives (like “POC”), as well as increasingly specific terms (like “omnisexual” or “demi girl”) don’t qualify as Newspeak because they either continue the existing ability to think and communicate or enhance it by being more exacting about the concepts involved.

I’m not trying to be pedantic, it’s just important to me that people understand what Newspeak really is because the fascists really are trying to implement it as a means of reducing resistance against them. My favorite example is “climate change” which was a term introduced by right wing think tanks to undermine the more accurate (and more alarming) term “global warming.” And it worked.

Anyway, again I don’t disagree with your points, so please carry on!

They’re now the most well funded domestic law enforcement agency to exist in the world, ever. With the sole task of deporting non-citizens.

What happens when there aren’t any more non-citizens to deport? Well they sure as hell are going to find SOME way to justify all that funding, don’t you think?