Side note, but this image of Putin as a gay clown is banned in Russia, with possible prison time.

Crysta from Fern Gully

Or Gadget from Chip 'N Dale.

My family including my parents moved from rural conservative to progressive left (probably somewhere around Social Democrat).

I’ve spent A LOT of time trying to truly reach out to conservatives, Trump supporters, from this angle. It requires a lot of time, but know two key things:

1. All you can do is plant seeds for neurons to grow. Belief structures get locked in like worn paths through a jungle, and so carving new ways requires an immense amount of time. You’ll never see the fruits of your labor yourself — both because the vast majority of people have an ego they protect at all cost, and because by the time something “clicks” and new neural paths build, you’ll be long gone.

2. Always recognize that your target audience is not the individual, themselves, necessarily, but the onlookers to the discussion. Always hold the high road. Always be courteous and let them throw the first punches. You’ll have a much easier task convincing the fence-sitters whose egos aren’t directly on the line as a direct participant in the conversation.

You can increase the probability you’ll reach these people by ending the conversation on a cordial note once you realize arguments are starting to become circular. You also know you made some decent ground if they just ghost the conversation or delete their entire comment chain without warning. You pierced their ego; they feel embarrassed. You’ve given them food for thought. Try to also frame how you got out of the echo-chamber so it’s not necessarily an attack on them, but an example of growth on yourself.

It’s a thankless task, the victories you’ll never see until we see it on a statistical level. The problem is that it’s a competition for who commands their attention the most, and you’ll never compete with Twitter, Fox News. You just have to hope they have that eureka moment, combined with perhaps a direct run-in with the fascism you warn about.

It just seems too obvious to me that this is the intentional sabotage by the Trump administration on behalf of at least Russia. None of this makes sense whatsoever. Not even if you’re a stock market businessman who doesn’t care about allies.

It literally only makes sense in the purview of relative strength gain of Russia; maybe China too.

I’d double RAM and dump the rest into a new GPU. Beyond that you might as well save for a new rig.

Just imagine if Trump was in the White House in 2022. Biden’s intelligence warned Zelenskyy of the amassing troops and the impending invasion which may have bought his country time to redeploy forces and static defenses enough to thwart the entire attack. In fact it’s quite possible the Russian plan to seize Hostomel Airport was passed on to Ukraine as well.

Good. The rest of our traditional allies must remain united and in lockstep with Ukraine.

Trump under the direction of Putin is clearly attempting to fracture the Western alliances in order to gain relative strength. It seems most of these countries recognize the game being played and aren’t taking the bait thankfully.

I’ll feel much better if Canadian elections go well.

In 2018 at the Helsinki summit, Trump said he trusted Putin’s word then, too, over the unprecedented joint consensus of every US intelligence agency and Pentagon.

Bush Jr. also said something similar on Putin.

Dumbshits. Kompromat.

Trump is looking for his new Epstein. Remember, he partied with both Epstein and Maxwell, flying over half a dozen times on Epstein’s private plane, “The Lolita Express.”

Like with anything the GOP accuses Dems of, the sex trafficking ring was projection.

This is an excuse and nothing more to consolidate power, remove oversight, and sabotage the American intelligence apparatus on behalf of Russia.

Any kids or spouse present?

With how reckless this was I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a Boogaloo stunt to frame leftists either. They were caught doing that with George Floyd protesters after all.

I know the results of Germany are something of a mixed bag but at least they managed to hold the line. It will give me a good bit of hope if we see Canada at least manage the same. We’ll need all the stability we can get for these next years…

That’s certainly one way of looking at it.

I prefer to see Kluew’s act as not so self-containing; that is, it’s an investment for running for office in the future and substantively changing the laws from the top down. I’d have much preferred Luigi enter politics with that handsome mug of his and fight the good fight alongside the likes of Sanders, AOC, Maxwell Frost, Crockett, et. al. For that is treating the root problem as opposed to merely the symptoms.

I appreciate the rise of folk heroes of all varieties but I think Chris Kluwe’s act is more my speed and within the capacity of many others. Hopefully it sets him up to be able to run for office next year.

Hahaha ladies and gentlemen, bystander audience… There it is. My case in point.

Checkmate.

I think it’s a pretty high bar to say that 2 genocides > 1 genocide and Option 2 was more persuadable than Option 1.

But I’ll be sure to relay to Ukrainians that you believe, by extension, that they’re not noteworthy at all.

Well all I know is that now we’re going full-throttle on not one but 2 genocides, including the one in Ukraine with even less of a chance to dissuade this administration than the previous on either so… Overall I’d call them, better.

Do you know why Biden had a complete falling out with Bibi and why Bibi was quite clearly going behind Biden and supporting Trump’s reelection? Do you know why Biden and Harris had no good choices when it came to Israel/Palestine ahead of the election?

If you want to know why people elected Trump not once but twice, I’d start with the Citizen’s United decision and the complete stranglehold right wing media has in controlling the national narrative in this country. That’s a hint to the last question as well.

Music. Listening; creating… Doesn’t matter. It soothes the soul.

I do appreciate television to be able to make people feel or convey a concept to those who otherwise might not get it. The Handmaid’s Tale changed a lot of lifelong Republicans to Democrats, for example.

A mall store called World of Science back in the day helped propel my interest in science and exploration. Miss that store…

I miss the nostalgia of going to Toys R Us with my parents. I can still smell that new plastic smell occasionally that takes me back. I wonder what type of plastic that is because it seems more rare nowadays… Certainly carcinogenic lol.