MrVilliam

Idk about you, but at this rate, I don't dare try to tell them otherwise.

I appreciate the nuance and detail of your comment. I wanted to make sure I started with that so you don't think I'm just here to shit on your comment. I'm upset that we're here and slapping bandaids on this shit instead of actually thinking about solutions.

Congress can't pass a budget, but they can raise their own pay. They haven't passed any meaningful legislation in two years, but they can raise their own pay. They can't raise our minimum wage, but they can raise their own pay. Idk about you, but I've never gotten a raise for pisspoor performance at any job I've ever held. I'll be receiving a 3.5% raise in a couple weeks, and I've very much earned that, and it's thankfully a bit higher than the ~2.8% inflation over the past year so it's an actual raise. Not everybody has been so lucky. I'm completely on board with paying Congress well so that it's not gated off for only the wealthy elite to have access to, but let's not pretend that passing a raise for themselves right now is eradicating all semblance of corruption once and for all.

Why does Congress actually need to be in DC anymore anyway? Why not have an office in their district and securely remote vote? Having them in DC maintaining two residences is costing them more, keeping them physically distanced from their actual constituents, and making corporate lobbying significantly easier since they can easily talk face to face with dozens of reps/senators in a single afternoon. We could also raise the cap on the House since it's been undersized for proper representation for decades; no need to cap it to a number that can regularly gather in the chambers anymore. I'd rather they just stay in their district and lock their pay to their local inflation rate. If they want better raises, then they need to actually help their district.

No, this is the long term effect of voting for "eLeCtAbLe" politicians in primaries. Putting a centrist in the general to run against the right in hopes of pulling voters from the right DOES NOT FUCKING WORK. Can we please finally accept that and move on?

Media is desperate for a distraction from people collectively being at least not upset about the CEO getting killed. If they don't jingle some keys in front of our faces asap, they risk us finally putting aside petty differences to band together over the actual class struggles that we all face together. Together we stand, divided we fall.

Yeah, we don't have healthcare. We have profit-motivated health insurance. We pay in case we get injured or sick, and they only profit if they find a legitimate way to not cover us when we get injured or sick, so they try their damnedest to do that.

His mortality terrifies him because it shouts in his face that he is ultimately no better or different than the poor. The great equalizer comes for us all, and most of us will be forgotten within just a handful of generations as though we never existed at all. That's easier to reconcile with when you already know that you're not special. Peter spent quite a long time believing otherwise. With every passing year, his desperation grows. A decent guy would use his absurd resources to improve life for all, cementing a positive legacy, feeling more fulfilled; he's a quantity over quality kind of guy though. Fewer, happier years are not as attractive to him as maximum, if miserable, lifetime.

He looks like a child's drawing of if John Cena didn't go to the gym.

Right. It's just yet another example of progressive ideas being popular with everybody, so long as it's pitched in a vacuum without any labels attached. Everybody wants better healthcare. Everybody wants cheaper groceries. Everybody wants privacy in their bedrooms. Everybody wants money out of politics. But most people aren't paying enough attention to realize that they're actually voting against these things when they vote for conservatives, no matter what those conservatives pretend to stand for.

My wife and I hung out with a couple just a few times. They were cool, but it's hard enough to find time when my wife and I are both off and awake; lining that up with two other working adults (plus they have a kid) was impossible to do regularly.

I can get along okay with pretty much anybody, but most people I've met have proven to be a little too incurious or even hateful for me to want to go out of my way to spend time with. With every passing year, I value my time more and more (as I'm sure almost everybody must) so it's hard to justify setting time aside for building friendships with people if I don't naturally want to hang out with them. That having been said, I work rotating 12 hour shifts, so I'm not off every night and weekend like a lot of people are, and even if I am off I may be swinging my sleep schedule to prepare for not being off. A lot of people just can't understand that yes, I may be off that day, but I didn't get home until after 0500 and I need to sleep at some point. Or yes I'm off that day, but I need to be in bed by 2000 at the absolute latest because I need to get up at 0230 for work the next day.

I would recommend making a friend or two with neighbors if your work schedule isn't as shitty as mine is lol. Especially if your neighbors suck less than a lot of mine have. Just don't force a friendship where there doesn't need to be one just so you can feel better about asking them to water your plants while you're away for the weekend. If they're cool, they'll do it for you just knowing that they can ask you to return the favor down the road.

They could certainly try, but the trump appointed judges will throw that shit out. I would love to be optimistic, but how could anybody have faith in the judicial system that got us here to reverse course to achieve actual justice in any capacity? It's hard to win against cheaters when you adhere to playing by the rules. "When they go low, we go high" will be the death of us all.

Oh good, that's me. 9/11 in middle school, wars through high school, '08 housing crash in the middle of college which pushed me to pivot to an AA instead of bachelor's, COVID wedding at 31, insane inflation through now. We finally bought our first house a few months ago and I turned 36 a few days ago. Things were starting to seem like they might turn out okay after all. Serves me right for having a whisper of optimism in my brain for once.

Pensions in this country are nearly non-existent. Without social security either, only the wealthy can retire. Thankfully, I've had retirement accounts for years, but they'll be wiped out by the first late life medical emergency I experience. Without social security to look forward to, I think a lot of people would rather live through total societal collapse than give their everything just to prop up this system that gives nothing back. It's a bad fucking deal.

8 year olds still have a lot of potential to grow. This piece of shit has shown a track record of about 70 years of non growth. Imagine getting rewarded for a behavior for 70 years straight. Even if he had the humility and intelligence to do it, he doesn't have the time left it would take to rewire his brain against that kind of conditioning.

To be clear, I'm not excusing him. I'm explaining that his brain is irreversibly fucking broken. Anybody holding on to hope that he changes in any meaningful way, don't you think that getting shot at would've been a humbling moment if ever there were to be one? By being a disgusting, hateful, stupid predator asshole consistently for his whole life, he's gotten absurd wealth, a model wife, an army of cultist followers, and he got to be president. Twice. When was he supposed to have learned that he should really take the time and energy necessary to do some growing?