TimmyDeanSausage

The Texas grid is just better.

As a Texan who has lost power, for weeks at a time, 4 times in the last 10 years, I disagree. I live near a major city and we lose power almost every time there’s strong wind, rain, or sub-freezing temps. Maybe you’re just lucky to live where you live? I’ve lived all over my city, and it’s surrounding suburbs, and it’s been pretty much the same everywhere.

Wow, that kind of self-agency is sooo entitled! Just be a good little wage slave until the boomers die off. They’ve had a comfy life. Can’t let them lose any of that comfort now! /s

Neoliberalism: A political theory of the late 1900s holding that personal liberty is maximized by limiting government interference in the operation of free markets.

Why do you believe giving the extractors/tyrants free reign will lead to real change? What if it follows the same trend of the last 50 years of things just getting worse and worse, while a large chunk of our populace implicitly accepts the normalization of it?

As a person currently living in extreme poverty, I can’t afford to fight in a revolution. I don’t have a vehicle I would feel comfortable driving long distances, I have zero food security, and I rely on consistent access to medications I need to stay alive. I suspect these are realities people that want some sort of revolution are ignoring. A lot of people, possibly myself included, could die from secondary effects if we go that route. Personally, I would like to avoid a full on revolution as much as possible.

So, following your logic, because things are worse elsewhere, we don’t have to be concerned about what’s happening in our country?

This happened to an old co-worker of mine. His wife was deported after they had been married for awhile and had a kid. It took them something like 6 or 7 years, and tens of thousands of dollars, to get her back to the US, and she almost died in the process. The cartel found out her husband was American and mugged her on her walk home from work. They stabbed her in the neck, barely missing her carotid artery. Their story is crazy af, and still breaks my heart for them, when I think about. Dude, lost out on most of his first daughter’s early childhood and almost lost it all because the US thinks it’s necessary to punish people that were brought here as children. So stupid.

Thankfully, they’re all in the US now and, last I heard, they had another kid and are doing great. :)

Mhmm.

This person didn’t like the points I raised in my reply to this comment, so they reported my comment to the auto-mod. Apparently the conversation has not been civil enough for them, despite their repeated use of profanity and insults.

What I heard her say at the DNC was; “We need Israel, we’re in a huge bind with that, but we’re absolutely not ok with what is happening in Palestine and we’re working to stop it”.

A claim was made. I asked for evidence supporting that claim. I don’t see how the question is in bad faith.

None of that is evidence of her supporting genocide. “You’re wrong and everyone thinks so” is kindergarten level “evidence”.

People need to recognize that this “war” (aka genocide of unarmed civilians) is happening between two different countries. As much as the US gov likes to think so, it is not the world’s daddy. It doesn’t have the power to come into any situation across the globe and immediately put a stop to it. Does the US hold a massive amount of political influence? Yes. But they still have to USE that influence to get things done, and weigh the impact using that influence could have on their military readiness for the region (which is important to maintain, now that it’s there, unfortunately). They could absolutely stop funding Israel’s military stock. Do you think that would immediately stop the genocide? I think it could cost the US an ally, which would remove ANY influence they have over them. This is a snippet of geo-politics that should highlight the necessity to handle complex problems with thoughtful, measured diplomacy. Personally, I don’t want a world in which the US can “lay down the law” wherever, however, and whenever they want. Even when it’s for the right reasons. Imperialism got the US into this mess. I’m not convinced more imperialism will solve it.

If geo-politics weren’t what they currently are, I would love for the US to end it’s relationship with Israel and immediately deploy troops to stop them. If domestic politics weren’t what they currently are, I would love to not vote for people I don’t agree with, on most issues, because I don’t get candidates that are progressive enough for me (or the many problems in the US ). But, as a gay man, I have to recognize the reality of my situation, and the domestic threats to my family, that are on the horizon, because people like you threw us (and all minorities/ immigrants) under the bus to make some point about your idealogies. Petulant children, the lot of you.

Well, I suppose it’s a good thing that wasn’t “the next step of the conversation”, internet-stranger-oracle. What an odd and presumptuous way to make an argument…

What I would have said is; So, no evidence? You’re right that a softly worded stance on genocide is not a good one. It also isn’t supporting genocide. Those two things are long and far apart. Harris’ statement on Israel was political/tactful because she knows that US military bases in Israel are extremely important for US interests in the region. She had to give an answer to a very complex question, without alienating or enraging multiple different groups, with very different interests, while still promising some action will be taken against Israel. I thought she walked that tight-rope pretty well and, in doing so, showcased a quality of leadership Trump, IMO, is not capable of displaying on his best days.

Here’s a clip of that portion of her speech, if you haven’t seen it already: https://youtu.be/oogNVOqnChc?si=rM_JBf6EQbUaG1pL

Can you provide some sort of evidence that Harris supports genocide?

She literally stood and spoke out against genocide at the DNC. Granted, it came off a little soft but, she very clearly said that her administration does not condone genocide and that they would use various strategies to put pressure on Israel, while “maintaining strategic military alliances in the region”. It was a tactful/“politically-savvy” way to say it, but she did speak on it and promise action. I may be wrong, but I don’t think we can say the same for Donny.

I regularly travel long distances across Texas for work and, in the past 5 years or so, I’ve seen John Deere dealerships that were once ubiquitous almost completely disappear. In their place (sometimes literally) there’s been an explosion of kubota dealerships. I’m sure the Japanese tractors are better anyways. Congrats, John Deere, on all the money you’re making on certified dealer repairs!

Can we get a relocation care package for all of the reasonable people stuck in red state hell-holes!? I’d move to literally any blue state if I had the resources and reassurance it won’t be sucked into US federal far right bs. So done with this scam country.

Except, in all cases, there were a lot of dead doctors, teachers, and children. The UN investigated each instance and found war crimes. The aid convoys were with registered international aid organizations and, upon investigation, they were found to be legitimate, had no weapons, we have footage of the attacks happening, they were not entering legitimate Israeli territory, and Israel has not shared any evidence of hamas operating out of these locations or via aid convoys.

If I take the time to back this up with sources, would you be receptive to the information? Don’t want to waste my time if you’re not willing to assess evidence that disproves your currently held beliefs.

We have footage of them bombing schools, hospitals, shooting up aid convoys… What is there to deny?..

In your example, there is clear, observable evidence of genocide occurring. They are killing civilians and demolishing critical civilian infrastructure. So, saying Israel is committing genocide has a certain amount of truth/accuracy in it, and the intent isn’t to smear Israel, it’s to point out what they are actively doing, while the world is receiving constant updates. In other words, there is objective evidence behind the claims.

Hate speech is the opposite. It has no objective evidence behind it, and the intent is to make specific people/groups look a certain way. We can typically infer the intent of hate speech by the words they choose to use, and the way they frame their “argument”. We employ critical thinking to do this. This process can also be peer reviewed for further accuracy.

Because I have nothing to downsize to aside from moving back in with parents… Not doing that. I share a house with 5 roommates. My and my partners vehicles are both junk cars that I’m constantly fixing. We have no luxuries, we don’t go out, and we rarely eat out. Not sure what else to cut.

How would you address the already over-burdened immigration system to deal with the influx of new H1B visas? What kind of specific measures would you propose to keep corporations from abusing H1B workers?

I wonder how many of these “micro-retirees” are people looking for jobs, or people who are burnt out and no longer looking after having been looking for months. My main freelance gig dried up over a month ago, and I haven’t been able to find anything substantial, that pays my bills, since then. I’ve been looking at all sorts of different things, but the reality is, I can leave the industry I’ve worked in for 15 years and take a big pay cut to take a job with skills I gained from hobbies. Or, I can somehow come up with ~$5k to pay for additional training and certifications I would need to get a better job that would pay my bills. That’s an oversimplification of my situation, but I really wonder how many people are caught in situations similar to mine in which, there aren’t really many options that work for me, or that I can reasonably obtain without outright lying on my resume.