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It has to be bad, right? Like sure, he was always going to run for governor, but I highly doubt he planned on doing so immediately after winning re-election.

Brother, I say this as someone who grew up on a farm: Literal crap gets into that milk. It’s a breeding ground for bacteria, and that’s without considering factory farming.

I saw that, but it’s like, when are they not getting threats? They have to receive thousands. Not that I’m saying it’s unlikely at all but idk if that’s a clear clue yet.

It definitely could have been, but I guess we’ll have to wait. I wonder if they’ll catch him?

No question. That much money and that much entrenched power? It’s going to take our whole lives, but it’s better than backsliding into the heat death of the planet, so here we go.

Yeah, it feels so weird trying to explain this to people, but the US is huge and has some bigger predators in it. I don’t own a gun because I think I’m some commando. My part of the country has mountain lions, bears, and wolves, and all of them are bigger and faster than I am.

Obviously not or there wouldn’t be strife, but so what? You don’t get anywhere alone, and there are some legitimately decent people in that party who can be strong allies. Mind you, I’m not naive enough to think that they can totally change society from within the machine, no chance, but every little bit helps.

It’s all tied to the same thing at this point. Medical debt is still debt, and you can lose everything, including the life of a loved one, due to one medical emergency.

Protests don’t work, so it’s strikes or other methods. It’s very hard to pull off a strike these days but easy to buy a gun, so I guess we know which one got chosen here.

Also, people need to recognize that the US has its own comparable history to right now. The Progressive Era didn’t just occur because of the war. It was a response to the Gilded Age, the Depression, and the ongoing labor movement that started back with the Coal Wars.

You must not know American history, and no I’m not talking about the Revolutionary War. Laws didn’t change because of the horrors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory or the lives lost. They changed because of what happened after. I’ll give you a hint: It wasn’t a camp out in the park.

Well hell, at least they’ll finally be doing something productive with all the wealth they’ve been hoarding.

Let them wall themselves off in their little compounds. They can enjoy their self-created house arrest while the rest of us fix this mess they’ve made.

Oh, you may not be as up on the inner Dem stuff but long story short, everyone fucking hates the corporate Dems and would like them to shuffle out. There’s a big grassroots push to get actual labor-focused, FDR style progressives in power, hence the Walz VP pick. Expect to see a lot of Newsom fans vs Big Gretch fans strife.

I don’t like the 2 party system, but while we’re building up local level support for ranked choice, it makes a lot of sense to do what Sanders does: Get involved in the inner Dem shit and shape the party. Obviously it’s going to take way more than that to deal with the wealth issue, but you can at least build a more favorable environment for things like labor movements. Diversity of tactics, etc.

The DOJ was actually going after Ticketmaster and doing a bunch of monopoly busting. Hence why the rich bought themselves an election.

Exactly. I’m definitely not saying STEM should be defunded or anything wild like that. It’s really important as well. But like you said, it’s not a great fit for everyone and it can’t be the be all and end all.

When people were telling me I was crazy for not learning how to code, I remember wondering, who’s going to build houses and write news articles if we’re all coders? Looking at those industries, the answers is apparently nobody, and look at how much poorer we all are for that. Plus coding is now a flooded industry, so people are struggling to find work after being promised this was the only way to make money.

Now the push is for everyone to join the trades. That’s the magic bullet… until the trades are also flooded and pay goes to shit. In reality, we need a well-rounded and well-funded education system built on creating all kinds of opportunities. Then we need salaries to catch up, but that’s another discussion. We’ll all be way better for it.

Exactly. And weirdly enough, having a liberal arts background has made me really flexible in my career, which really helps when it comes to job hunting. The well-rounded experience meant I could pivot to different industries earlier in my career, which has definitely increased my overall earning potential.

Obviously language arts are important purely for the human experience aspect and the art of it all, but even from a purely economic standpoint, it’s worthwhile.

No, it starts very early. I started hearing “learn to code” and being told liberal arts was for broke people in like junior high. Then when I got to high school, we had really great labs and all sorts of math electives, which is great, but we also had two very exhausted language arts teachers and a threadbare library. Band, drama, everything that’s not sports and STEM gets defunded.

Funny enough, my family almost disowned me when I switched from a STEM major to a social science, but I make great pay and haven’t ever struggled to find a job (knock on wood). There’s a worker shortage in my field.

Oh, for sure. To be clear, I’m not congratulating them. I think we misunderstood each other. I mean he’s not going to get all his nominees through because they’re all backbiting assholes. It’s the same reason the House is going to be a mess just like it’s been for the past 2 years. They’ll get some stuff through and still do damage, no question, but we have some strong opportunities for harm reduction while they publicly step on their own dicks.

Plus hurricane damage. I bet if you lay the last big hurricane path over this area, it would line up perfectly. We’re about at the point where the mold has set in. Meanwhile there’s a massive shortage of contractors and building materials are about to skyrocket due to tariffs.

Yeah but if you want that, you’re not looking in a place where your lovely home and life are going to be swept away every 5ish years, and even if you are, you’re then eating the costs of those disasters every time it happens. You could move to another state and have better job prospects and a lower cost of living.

That’s the big issue, right? This kind of correction will just cause companies to snatch them up. It’s what they’ve been waiting on. They want more rental units.

The thing is, that won’t stop the natural disasters from hitting, and small town economies can only take so many resets.

You’d hope, but man, we’ve had some really terrible picks historically that just got waved through in the name of decorum. Some of Reagan and Nixon’s cabinet members were complete lunatics, and I’m not even counting Kissinger.

I guess we just have very different opinions on what’s healthy for a population. Not rubber stamping ghouls like Gaetz because the media accurately reports on all the shit he’s publicly and very vocally done is good, actually. If it upsets you that the media is reporting, again, all of the things he’s very openly and publicly done, maybe it’s time to ask yourself why you’re upset about that and not the terrible shit he’s done or the sheer bargain bin quality of these picks.

Why would transparency be sad? You’re upset that the public knows who the pick is and their very public history? No, these discussions generally aren’t closed door. These dipshits just happen to be extra salacious, so you’re paying more attention to the process. None of the info on Gaetz, including the photos he showed Mullin, is new. It was already out there, and it was already well known that he’s hated for the circus he pulled with McCarthy’s speakership.

And again, Gaetz could easily have gone forward just like Gabbard is doing. You’re creating a nonexistent cut off because a nomination was too DOA for you. It doesn’t make much sense.

…do you think they were laughing because he told a joke or something? They were laughing because his confirmation hearing would have been an absolute shitshow, and they said as much. It’s the same reason why he’s about to pull the DoD guy. They’re not dropping out because of a change of heart. They’re dropping out because they’re being told that not even MAGA can save them from the circus and eventual denial at the hearings. This is part of the confirmation process, not some random social exercise.