It’s already an intolerable number of ads in some shows. And if you pause and go back a few seconds they show you all the unskippable ads again. It’s definitely becoming more trouble than it’s worth.

I guess the hit piece is just the title OP put on the post.

And no prosperity for the time that comes after it.

Every now and then I find this cathartic to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyQGrq-Y7gg

Once again ordinary people in the West are saved from affordable, low-pollution living, and Western companies are saved from having to compete.

Wow, they develop trucks like my workplace develops code.

We are told consistently that there is no right way to speak out against a clear wrong because systematically every method of protest, from campus demonstrations to essays to books to social media posts to peaceful marches on the streets, is framed as an amorphous attack on Jews everywhere as opposed to focused critiques of a specific wrong being perpetrated by a few powerful individuals.

We need, in large numbers, to refuse this message, no matter how often they try to push it on us. And we need to draw attention to the fact that the most antisemitic message being put about is coming from Israel and the institutions that fawn over it, with their insistence that all Jews must align with their genocidal views and support their genocidal actions. How disrespectful to Jews and Jewishness is that, to co-opt Jewishness itself in the service of your self-serving and brutal politics? It’s insulting. And it’s not just Israel’s government that is being self-serving; it’s also all those universities, media companies and governments who are trying to stay in Israel’s favor because the alternative is their own discomfort.

War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, Republican bullshit is still Republican bullshit.

Fascism always needs a new enemy each time it has dealt with the last one. That’s why no one is safe from these neo-Nazis.

These are the people who continually call everyone on the left “groomers” and taking an unhealthy interest in kids? The same people cutting peepholes into school bathrooms?

They are: they’re concerned that women might have their own ideas and not submit to a man’s control.

I thought about that, but it would affect iPhone users from outside Russia who are traveling in Russia, and Apple probably wouldn’t want that.

I misunderstood and my comment wasn’t well considered. It was even dumb.

It’s crazy to argue that the result of a dispute about objective numbers between two biased parties should be decided not by a third party, the courts, but by the politicians from those two parties.

It’s not a democracy if the results of elections are decided by the party in government. That’s how sham elections work in dictatorships.

I’m concerned about how, whether Trump participates and makes a fool of himself or drops out like the coward he is, the headlines will still all be about Trump. This is exactly the media approach that got him elected first time.

20% is still better than 30%. Less momentum in the movement; more chance of discouraging others from pursuing it.

I agree with you that there’s no need to pretend fascists have a valid point. But those who would reason with them fail to understand that fascists are beyond caring whether they have a valid point or not. They are simply determined to have things their way. While we try to educate fascists about where they’re mistaken, they will smirk and load their guns. To them it’s funny that others are so stuck on argument when you can just use violence to get what you want. They see this attachment to argument as weakness and stupidity, and they know what to do with the weak and stupid.

That said, whether banning the party would help depends on how committed their voters are to the fascist cause, and I’m not familiar with the scene in Germany. Maybe if there are many who are just disgruntled but not particularly committed, putting obstacles in the party’s way could buy time to turn them away. But people get sucked in quickly because fascist groups know how to make people feel they belong, pander to their egos, and rapidly program their prejudices while persuading them everyone else is lying. It has cultish aspects, so there has to be a plan for how to deprogram people from a cult.

I didn’t watch the debate but it’s a bit disheartening that every headline so far has “Vance” in it but not “Walz”. The media always give the Republicans far more free publicity than the Democrats.

They don’t want to. The people in charge think they’ll make money if he wins, and they want to keep on the right side of him in case he wins and does purges. They care much more about their own wealth than about the country as a whole or the non-rich people who can’t do them any favors.

🐔