This month was a wacky selection for no good reason:
Pastoral Approach to Atheism; Pastoral Theology; Concilium Volume 23
Silver Canyon, Louis L’Amour
Compassionate Satanism: An Introduction to Modern Satanic Practice
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Ethics 101: What Every Leader Needs To Know
Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns, Victor Dover
Babel, Kuang, R.F.
No. Trump and his Project 2025 has me downright petrified and angry.
Biden is a right wing wedge point for our GOP captured media to lightning rid with.
Hey look it’s the liberals forming subcommittees while the boots thunder down the hall.
From now on I’m going to call these articles and the related actions a “Boots Subcommittee”.
Schumer called a Boots Subcommittee. It wasn’t very effective.
That’s right! The CO2 poisoning. We did all die from that. Just like doctors and nurses do in surgery every surgery.
There were also the ones yelling about their refusal to wear lingerie on their faces.
I recall a slew of right wing anti-mask, anti-vaccine, pro-pandemic nutjobs screaming “You’re violating my HIPAA!!!” in stores, restaurants, hotels, and random public spaces. I know the GOP doesn’t care about hypocrisy (fascists revel in exerting power through this), but that’s what they’re doing here.
I’ve carried a set of leather wrapped juggling balls on flights off and on since the 90’s. They used to make every X-ray reader twitch out. They’re about the right size for bad items (explosives, grenades), and I have three, not just one.
Normally it would get a quick search, a moment of confusion, and then no worries.
Once when going through the old airport in Berlin, I got searched at the second checkpoint, they brought out the balls to me, so I started juggling them and did a routine. It was really quiet so I was the only passenger in sight. That was the only time I’ve performed in front of an audience who was carrying machine guns.
I just saw the article on AI powered ammunition vending machines in OK and AL. Have you seen one in person? That’s a wild concept.
Nations with their citizen’s health as an actual priority have (mostly) solved these problems. The US is not a developed nation, nor a humanitarian one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_First
Storming the Bastille was done (in part) to free prisoners who were being indefinitely held for reasons related to being poor. I’m mostly just bringing that up because history has lots of interesting themes we should all be considering in our decision making during daily life.
I paid $400 out of pocket with good insurance for a standard checkup in the US recently. Protect that NHS or you too will get to decide if you want to live or die with every injury.
Yeah, but you already have a king and we in the US just annointed our president king. Unless something changes hard for the better of the Republic in November, we’ll be a dictatorship in no time.
And your God emperor is signalling bloodshed if we let you do it.
You don’t negotiate or compromise with Nazis like the Project 2025 people.
The hiding of the control panel is just extra pain for the fun of it. I know it’s the same tool they’ve had for many generations now so they’re hiding it because it’s ugly, but it’s the real way to get things done. Hiding it is just making everyone’s life harder, which is basically the Microsoft approach to OS design.
Sorta. It’s a democracy with the voting and all that at this time. Since the person holding presidency is now above the law, then as long as the current president decides that we get to continue to have a republic, then we’re a republic. The moment a US president decides that it needs to be an official act to end voting, or just stall on voting indefinitely, then we stop being a republic. Basically, we’re living on borrowed time until the “by the people” part of the US nation is taken away by whomever we voted in as president last.
President Biden has the idea that he should respect the Constitution. He’s unlikely to decide to end the republic. If he gets reelected (and the conservatives don’t just kick off a civil war trying to end the election like they failed to do back in 2020), then we buy at least a few more years. Then… we go into a cycle where if benevolent dictators keep getting elected we stay afloat. The moment a populist gets elected president who also doesn’t personally decide to not take over as dictator, the republic ends.
Why that’s easy. It’s the top elected official, of course.
That’s been a continual strategy to try to deter and block RCV. They argued that in front of the courts in Maine when the state moved to RCV.
In the end, I feel there’s one big defense: no matter where my vote ends up, I only get one for the last candidate standing that I voted for.
The other voting systems where you rate candidates on a scale, it’s a bit muddier as to what a “vote” is. A vote should be your voice that’s the same as anyone else’s in the electorate. As long as all humans get the same voice, it should be able to take any form.
Since the only other likely alternative is a fascist, insurrectionist, felon, rapist who couldn’t finish a thought or sentence we’ve got ourselves a tough spot, but a clear better choice of the two: vote for Biden.
Having our government by a gerontocracy is not going well.
No, the goal is to sleep in silence. When I’m able to put aside my worries and truly rest I don’t need any noise or background hum to be completely out.
I only use a short video (under my pillow at mom volume so I can barely hear it) to get to sleep and then I’m usually out for a long time.
I’ve always felt that much of getting to sleep and what makes it easy to rest is training to some extent. Changing the ambient noise (especially if you move homes) can really screw things up until you get used to the normal noises of the new location. While that happens I’ll use something to fuzz the ambient sounds, but I’ll actively remove the white nose or background video over time so I acclimate to the new normal.
I consider it a worthwhile goal to be able to sleep without aids, if possible. Most of the real trouble is in my head (or a neighbor with fucking loud music at 2am to be dealt with), so when I have control I seek silence and a mental even keel when possible.
As a kid? Nothing. Just silence.
Today? My tinnitus, quietly humming away.
Now,.if I’m in a very weird mental spot and just can’t spin down to rest, I put on The Might Jingles’ World of Warships gameplay videos. His English voice just puts me out in moments.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been in a class with assigned readings like these books.
I’ve come full circle and now I read both for pleasure and for personal growth.
At the moment my current books are the Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth series) and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. One is for general enjoyment, the other is for self reflection and growth.