vanontom

Does anyone remember that Garland was Obama's nominee for Supreme Court, before being blocked due to "election year"? (A few years later, GOP rammed through their pick less than a month before election.)

Also for a sense of perspective, Twitter is owned by a Trump salesman that lies about everything (including user numbers that affect ad revenue). I've seen Bluesky users mention that actual engagement with real people is already higher than Twitter. It definitely feels more "alive" to me as well.

we're in Vermont

Um, f*** you? (Joking. But it could be worse: Imagine living in Texas, Bernie replaced by Ted Cruz, rain replaced by heat that kills half of everything outdoors.)

“I can’t afford another four years of this. I did better under the other guy although I hate him.”

I just can't get over how lazy it is to blame "the current guy" though. I want to say to these people: Surprise, the response to a massive global pandemic led to a couple of years of inflation! (On top of that, poorly regulated capitalism and corporate consolidation led to opportunistic greed and historic profits, what a coincidence!) Who is trying to solve these problems (and who is obstructing)? What are their plans (and are they already improving the situation)? Connect the dots and vote for intelligent policies and people with real plans. This is not a game.

And then there’s the wars.

I would hope people don't see Ukraine and Israel support as the same thing, but I'm all out of hope. On one hand, we have a newly democratic Ukraine and Zelinskyy trying to survive an invasion from a longtime US enemy and so-called superpower, after every heinous thing Putin done in the last decade? (But I'm sure "some people" think brutal dictators should be free to steamroll Europe again.) Seems like we finally found a worthy cause for our obligatory trillion-dollars-per-year military industrial complex! On the other hand, Netanyahu bombs civilians on a daily basis so he can avoid prosecution (sounds familiar). Hmm...

Journalists, historians, professors, scientists, artists, etc. What you see (on these non-algorithmically controlled networks like Bluesky or early Twitter) is directly determined by who you follow. Unfollow or block/mute the dumbasses. Follow the best.

For me, it's probably the interaction with (intelligent, educated, creative, talented) people that are outside of normal reach. And I can turn these virtual people on or off at any time (lol).

Sure. Costs are too high. People are angry. But angry people are not very reasonable or logical, and easier to manipulate. They just voted against any helpful progressive policies, in favor of tariffs, austerity, oligarchs, fascism, chaos, etc. This was very dumb.

To me, the core problem is that Democrats lost the information war, esp. with the average low info voters ("I get my news from Facebook/TikTok"). It didn't help that Biden funded genocide and Harris ignored progressives.

Bluesky has been surprisingly nice as well. Quite populated (growing a lot lately), interesting user moderation tools (go completely feral or block whatever), user lists and feeds and 'starter packs' to get up to speed fast, no fucked up algorithms.

But the point is: For the love of dogs, stop using those other terrible (bot and ad infested, abusive, poorly moderated, outrage obsessed) platforms!

I'm still amazed at the catastrophic damage one single generation can do to a country, voting for terrible policies over and over again (Reagan, Bush, Trump). Refusing to admit when things are not working, turning instead to a propaganda apparatus, preferring to detach from reality. And they're not even done (dead) yet...

I'm sure the totals are so absurd that I can't really comprehend the numbers. But Citizens United set the rules of the game. And Democrats don't have that sweet cult advantage.

Embarrassing, but so is Trump and Vance winning so many working class votes, while being extremely wealthy anti-labor anti-union cunts, backed by world's loudest and richest dipshit, which will demand more tax cuts (for them), tariffs and austerity (for us). "But Biden prices went up!" SMFH.

And why do they serve them: All points back to the insane amount of money necessary to run a campaign (esp. at higher levels, vs billionaires, etc).

I'm kind of amazed that more politicians don't just promise to try to implement all the highest polling ideas. (Spoiler: Most are progressive and socialist policies.) Especially presidential candidates running against potentially catastrophic fascists.

Only 220 more weeks of this! I'm sure it'll be fine! ^help