• 0 Posts
  • 335 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
cake
Cake day: June 15th, 2023

help-circle


  • This is one of those questions where it’s very easy to project one’s vision of their own mortality onto the mirror of their pet. Like, for me, personally, I dread becoming so enfeebled that the tasks of daily life slip beyond my strength, to say nothing of mental incapacity, and I very much do not want to live that way. I know people who would rather lie in bed, maintained by machines, ass wiped by a stranger, for years than give up. We can’t ever know what the internal life of our pets is like, can’t know if they’re aware of their own mortality in the way that we are, but we will be responsible for their geriatric care and end-of-life decisions. ‘What I would want for myself,’ is the best place to start.



  • The “resist government tyranny” people have always been a (very vocal) fringe group. Quasi-historical, quasi-fantasy, a little bit like historical re-enactors, but with a plot that makes it seem like they could be talking about today and real life. AFAIK, no one outside the groups actually think they will be the people to lead an armed resistance, mostly because no one outside of the groups actually thinks there will ever be a circumstance involving a widespread, armed resistance.

    The one I knew, we’re sitting in this little pizza shop having lunch, and he starts going on about how he’s mapped the exits and positions of cover in the restaurant, in case a crew would barge in to rob the cafe and its patrons. Had his eye on a couple of people who might be troublemakers. Obviously had his gun with him, but probably too many people around to use it if the place did get raided. All in this nice, quiet, suburban neighborhood.


  • Republicans are always looking for small populations to fuck over. There’s only ~25M people on ACA, or about 7% of the population. The rules are complicated and mostly hidden behind automatic calculations done by marketplace websites, so most people’s experience is just that the website gives them a price list and they choose one to pay. Can’t tell if price hikes are due to actual insurance company rate hikes, changes in the tax credit structure, or their own increased income.

    For politicians, it’s a pretty safe bet that the size of the affected population and obscurity of the cost structure will prevent any serious organized blowback. Insurance companies are going to be scapegoats for this.






  • Resistance comes from oppression, and right wing communities are not friendly spaces for women. MTG has played “one of the good ones,” but Trump still won’t let her run for Senate. God knows what other harassment her peers impose (especially because she has been batshit in her role). She graduated from small-town nepo-baby to the billionaire crowd, and it’s probably been a shock how little those people care about her opinions.

    The bootlickers may see inequality, but they attribute it to fickle whims of those in power rather than any kind of system. If you believe that success or failure comes from the patronage of the powerful, then ingratiating yourself to them is a rational strategy for getting ahead.








  • The people seeing the biggest dollar increases will be those above 400% of poverty level - $62,600 for singles, $128,600 family of 4 - because the “Big Beautiful Bill” brings back the cap on ACA subsidies. In my area, the benchmark ‘SLCSP’ is $1150/month (single). 2025, someone making $70k would have paid $560 for that, after tax credits; 2026, they’re on the hook for the whole bill. Family of 4 making $130k is going to pay $3045/month in 2026; would have paid $1030 in 2025.

    There’s big percentage changes up and down the scale, but bringing back “the cliff” essentially targets self-employed people who are finally getting ahead.



  • I have to believe the best times are ahead. I look back at any point in US history and there was more hatred for different people, more formal oppression of those people, more imperialist aggression. Maybe, there were times when certain segments of the white male population could get material goods more easily, but that was often at the cost of just just accepting poverty for everyone else. Not to mention literal famine and plagues.

    There’s a whole world of people out there making shit better all the time. Curing incurable diseases, building alternatives to fossil fuels, converting crowded streets to greenways. There’s a lot of political pressure trying to preserve the bad old ways, even trying to bring back long-forgotten plagues, but we are still finding better ways to do things despite those malicious fucks.