✋ - Getting your siblings killed for Turkish Delight.

👉 - Getting your siblings killed for baklava.

To be clear, I agree with you. However, I’ve been saying that the Trump Campaign didn’t win this election, the Democratic Party lost it. The Trump campaign was a fucking mess. Trump rallies sucked. Their policies sucked, and I don’t mean they were evil, I mean when you polled people, objectively, virtually every major policy the Democrats held polled better than anything the Republicans did.

The major difference was that the Democratic Party gave people the impression that they cared about propriety and institutions more than they did about normal people or even winning the election. They tried so hard to seem normal that nobody believed them when they talked about the threat posed by Republicans, and how can you blame people? If you were facing an apocalyptic threat, you would be fighting, not issuing high-minded press releases and carefully-worded and narrowly-defined policy papers.

Harris didn’t run a totally garbage campaign, but when Trump and the Republicans were in full rabid dog mode and the Democrats couldn’t figure out how to get past the tut-tut stage, it was never going to work.

Bowtie, but make it a little bit smaller.

I personally know a person with a child who was born with profound physical and mental disabilities. She’s a dear sweet caring person, and she shared an emotionally devastating story about how she had her first “conversation” with her daughter when said daughter was in her early twenties, which took the form of the daughter being able to indicate, through extraordinary effort, that she preferred to be read one story instead of another.

For her, this was a deeply rewarding moment, the ability to have any kind of deliberate interaction with her daughter, after nearly two decades of struggle and effort. She clearly loves her daughter. I would never try to take anything away from her in that regard.

However. When my wife got pregnant we had very serious conversations about the potential for birth defects and how we were prepared for her to have an abortion if serious defects were found. We talked about the quality of life of a human being we were bringing into existence, and how no one should ever have to feel trapped by their own body, and what our experience of being parents was going to be like.

Our daughter was born without any issues at all. In fact she’s bright and friendly and less destructive than we might have expected… and still being a parent is easily the most intense and difficult project of my entire life, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Nobody should ever have any reservations about being a parent for any reason at all, and if there are factors that you can control to make that decision easier one way or the other, then you should absolutely take control of them.

All of which is to say, no there is absolutely no moral issue with choosing not to deliberately create a person with genetic birth defects. The choice to become a parent is the most important and consequential choice anyone can make. Make it in exactly the way that you would want to make it, and in no other way whatsoever.

In a black dress.

Get some real nihilists in there.

These two on Rebels:

Moments later is when the show reveals just what kind of show it is.

[Monkey’s paw curls a finger]

“Your wish is… granted…”

Jesus fucking Christ, Cannon again.

Getting closer to Snow Crash all the time.

You should never post anything online that you wouldn’t be comfortable shouting at the top of your lungs in the middle of your hometown.

^Bang!

Got it. Smoke two cigarettes at a time to increase my total lifespan.

I’m not sure if you said ambling when you meant shambling, but either way I just love the idea of a horde of zombies just moseying around, having a relaxing little stroll downtown to eat everyone, making the best of a sunny afternoon and devouring humanity.

I love the idea that someone was working on a Luigi’s Haunted Mansion sequel when they saw the search metrics on “Luigi” go absolutely nuts and when they found out why were like “Oh… oh nooooo…”

Say, your telephone is sounding."

“Oh!” Matt fumbled in his pouch and got out his phone. “Hello?”

“That you, son?” came his father’s voice.

“Yes, Dad.”

“Did you get there all right?”

“Sure, I’m about to report in.”

“How’s your leg?”

“Leg’s all right, Dad.” His answer was not frank; his right leg, fresh from a corrective operation for a short Achilles’ tendon, was aching as he spoke.

“That’s good. Now see here, Matt-if it should work out that you aren’t selected, don’t let it get you down. You call me at once and-”

“Sure, sure, Dad,” Matt broke in. “I’ll have to sign off-I’m in a crowd. Good-by. Thanks for calling.”

—Space Cadet, Robert A. Heinlein, written in nineteen fucking forty eight!

Poe’s Law is in full effect.