Republican legislators keep getting away with awful shit. I don’t see there being a change whenever they vote for extremely unpopular bills because they have an R next to their names. In the eyes of the average brain dead voter, that’s good enough to keep endorsing them every time they drag their dumb asses to the poles. Ted Cruz should’ve been primaried after abandoning his constituents for Cancun during a snow storm but he’s still around. Lauren Boebert should’ve lost her position after the Beetlejuice blow job but she’s still in Congress. MTG’s incompetence and bathshit crazy stuff she says about Jewish space lasers hasn’t cost her anything yet. I could go on.

Meanwhile we have the DNC eating itself over anything that goes against the wishes of those at the top. Mamdani is practically unrecognized by the DNC establishment. Sanders faced the combined efforts of the Democratic party keeping him from getting a fair chance at the 2016 primaries. Al Greene was censured by his peers for rightfully calling out Trump on his Medicaid lies. AOC keeps getting snubbed in committee picks for geriatrics that die months later. It’s so hard to stay positive in light of all the shit that keeps going on. I really want things to change for the better but it’s so hard to keep holding on to hope.

The ratio of empty homes to homeless people in the US is roughly 15:1. We just need to redistribute a few but the average American hates the idea of doing something nice to people they see as unworthy of life to begin with.

Just forget it. Us Americans are too comfortable/scared/tired to do jack shit. We should’ve been out striking and rioting like the French day after day when ICE first started to make their move. At this point we pretty much deserve what’s coming to us because of the election results and us not objecting loud enough.

Meanwhile the Big Beautiful Bill which this rider was attached to passed 51-50 in the Senate.

The one constant with China is change. There have been plenty of dynasties whose power waxed and waned over the years. Much of the current Chinese territory is being held through force, like East Turkestan or Tibet. As long as the people keep experiencing better living conditions they’ll tolerate the tyrannical governance of the CCP. The government’s betting big on censorship and shows of force, but I doubt it’ll suffice if enough civil discontent rises at once. China’s not a very resource independent country and all it takes is a shortage of food or oil to quickly destabilize its economy and its hold on power by extension.

Since much of the world still relies on China’s factories for so many general goods there’s a balance on its power through trade. As production and logistical chains continue to diversify outside its territories though, it’ll have a harder time keeping its citizens in check through economic growth. It’ll either have to start shifting into a service economy with good relations on its trade partners and neighbors for goods, or it may start to take a more nationalistic path. There’s an argument that both paths are actively being followed.

China heavily investing in trade and infrastructure with African countries may keep things peaceful as it continues to grow economically. This prosperity will only delay the inevitable though. People will eventually want to move away from factory work into more lucrative but limited service jobs as inflation starts to take hold due to an ever increasing amount of money in circulation. Its expected population decline will also start to kick in as the much higher population of older citizens would burden the comparatively smaller one child policy generation that would be needed to take care of them.

China promoting nationalism will distract the resentment of its people from the government to outside powers instead, but it would come with some severe geopolitical consequences. It’s already pissed off all its maritime neighbors by trespassing and overfishing in their waters, along with intentionally using its navy to attack fishing vessels. It’s also trying to claim vast swathes of international waters by dumping a bunch of sand and establishing forts on them all over the South China Sea. China and India routinely fight in border skirmishes using sticks and stones to try to keep the conflict from escalating. Eventually all the regional countries might decide to form a coalition and starve China out of its oil via a few strategically placed blockades either on the Strait of Malacca or along Sri Lanka. The economic damage over something like this might provide enough domestic unrest to force the government to change.

The CCP can’t hold its iron grip on power forever. One day HK will regain its ability to choose its own destiny. I only hope these people will still be around to see it.

I’ve used some non-OEM expanded cell batteries back in the netbook days and they worked okay for about two years before drastically losing their ability to hold a charge. I’d recommend just sticking to OEM parts with proper electrical certifications just to help lower the chance of thermal runaways or things like that.

To be fair I kept buying models that cost $20 to $30 so maybe the higher end ones would last longer. That said, my Moondrops wired headphones cost the same but are way more reliable.

Step 2: Blow out your ear drums.

Same. I can’t find any Bluetooth headphones whose batteries don’t die in 4 or 5 months anyway. Meanwhile my Moondrop wired headphones have been going strong for almost 3 years.

No bugs to cuddle up with? Try snakes!

And now those same bumpkins are saying originating countries “are gonna pay for the tariffs”.

For those wondering without wanting to click, the title is “Reversed Front: Bonfire”. It’s supposed to depict an independent Taiwan and Hong Kong which is what obviously pissed off the delicate sensibilities of the CCP.

He’s not perfect but Newsom’s one of the few political figures resistance to the Trump regime can crystallize around. Yes I’m well aware he’s the type of guy who’d like to find common ground with these assholes but he’s at least willing to risk provoking Trump’s goons into overextending themselves.

A significant portion of society’s lost respect for devastating and easily preventable diseases. I don’t think we’re getting it back until we dismantle its misinformation machine even if antivaxxers catch it themselves.

Staple carb. It’s supposed to be the bare minimum in cheap and regularly consumed food. After that society’s just a few missed meals away from people rioting.

Few words are dirtier to Republicans than “nationalize”. They must be torn between following their god-emperor’s hurt feelings and allowing Musk’s company to be taken over by the government. The best I see them doing is cancelling all contracts and subsidies with SpaceX/Tesla and passing them off to its competitors.

Seriously. We need mandatory federal voting holidays with democracy sausages being offered at every polling station.

Why bother improving our knowledge of the universe when we can already make even more nukes? FFS…

Israel needs its lebensraum.