The majority of voters put Trump back in office, knowing full well what his agenda would be. We're not nice people, but a nation of violent, ignorant bigots who chose an adjudicated criminal over a mixed race woman with good ideas and a lot of compassion.
We have disgraced ourselves too many times to deny who we are.
True, but with a caveat. Dur to massive Repub cheating, many people who should be allowed to vote are suppressed 'cause the Repubs fear they might vote Dem. Repubs are also effective with massive lies and misinformation; they've got people voting against their own economic wellbeing.
Oh, come on. We all know that. Smh The number of people who chose not to vote and whatever are not enough to throw an election. Face it. AMERICANS SUCK.
Similar story in a town near me. Several weeks ago, unidentified men with no badges or warrants attempted to enter the home of a man here who filed for asylum. When his family refused to open the door, he was later arrested on the street, without any documentation shown as to why he was being arrested. Agents questioned him about ties to Iran, despite the fact that he was from Libya and had no connection to Iran. He was sent to ICE detention center in Georgia. Bond was set by a judge and then paid in full by the man's family but ICE kept him in detention by using a rarely invoked provision that allows them to override an immigration judge's bond ruling by filing an appeal. This man has finally been released after local leaders got involved but I don't know the details on what actually facilitated the release. It's all shameful and I'm enraged every day over what this country has become.
The global majority is Black and brown and the white supremacists are having fits about it and believe they can change it by genocide and hoarding all the capital
What you're struggling with is what to DO about it
I wonder if the MAGAts will, at some point, wake up to the fact that in most ways the current US is not great. I firmly believe that we are no longer the world's Super Power. We have alienated and lost allies. We have attacked the world with economic warfare, starting with the US. Few countries trust us. We are a laughingstock in many ways.
I think it's time to use a four-country solution. Divide the US into East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and Southern countries. I am quite serious about this. Our current system is corrupt and leads to minority rule by Red State reactionaries. (Note that the South has to take trumpy.)
The problem is white supremacy and how people who believe in it want to steal everything that belongs to anyone else AND how other White people who claim not to believe in white supremacy consistently turn their heads away and pretend not to see these widespread & blatant thefts when they happen.
If you tried your "solution" -- you'd see it immediately in the rabid dogfight of people battling to be the ones WHO DRAW THE LINES.
The younger generation of GOP supporters ... maybe.
The older generation are a lost cause. They have grown up on the various myths of "American Exceptionalism", "the shining city on the hill", "the world's last super power", "the greatest generation", "white makes right", the fact that the racism behind Jim Crow and redlining was not only just but valid, etc etc. To lose that is both to lose their identity AND be faced with the fact that they have been duped for more than half their lives. They will NEVER accept that (in large enough numbers to move the needle). They'll die before that happens. Likely in the next pandemic made worse by the combination of hamstringing vaccine research, being lied to by the media they consume, voting to hurt themselves due to hospital closure and insurance cuts.
While I understand the desire to split off parts of America - from both sides driven by a desire to not be in the same country as "them" - the logistics make it a virtual certainty to never happen. Who gets to keep the currency? The military hardware and people? The only way it happens is if the country descends into a protracted civil war and pretty much ceases to exist.
As an example, Sudan has been as war with itself for over 20 years ... and has STILL not settled into any kind of peaceful and logical coexistence.
I don't mind being in the same country as them. What I mind is having people like trumpy win elections when he absolutely shouldn't. I know it would be a drastic solution, but it would be a solution and one that lots of people would like. We are hardly a united United States at this point. We might as well go for Untied States.
I don't know that dividing the country would or could be any more divisive than a trumpy Presidency. The logistics would take time and effort, but I suspect a lot of people would be willing to work on it for years to get it right. We aren't Sudan and should not suspect things would be the same for us.
Currently we are in a civil war anyway, sometimes with violence and deaths. trumpy attacked California with troops and kidnappers. There is no sign it will get better since more and more voters are being suppressed, disenfranchised, or just plain lied to. We no longer have a democracy.
I would be happy to support a different solution, but I haven't seen any so far that are very effective. Maybe the midterms will offer some support, but the Repubs are trying very hard to make sure they win. They are already dividing the country into separate parts, just without self-rule for those parts.
She hardly went to the head of the line. She was kidnapped and held for five days and had to feel uncertain about what would happen to her. She was released because she had a lot of supporters, but the fact that many were Christian is irrelevant.
I'm an atheist myself and not a fan of organized religion, but I can't see any wrongdoing here or any discrimination against Catholic Mexicans (except ty ICE, of course).
I really disagree with blaming Soo for benefiting from being who she is. And many Episcopalian churches are front and center in human rights movements. No one in ICE detention deserves what is happening to them now. Anyone who has an edge is just fortunate to get away from the hell being forced on migrants. The good thing about this happening to a well-known "PK" is that it's one more high-profile ICE fuck up making it across all the news.
Hey kidz, I got through about five minutes of reading the news today (not on this site) and fled to the baby gorilla vid from yesterday. It helped, I'm going to keep it in my "comfort after reading the news" arsenal.
Well, I have come to the decision that it's time to put away the keurig and switch to the espresso machine for a bit. I have a great little pump driven machine (you want a pump to drive the water, not steam driving it) back in 2007 and it's still going strong today. It was one of my very first evil Amazon purchases, WAY BACK in about 2006 when I was living in Boston.
The keurig doesn't make my coffee strong enough; no matter how full I fill the pods and how little water I use, I need stronger coffee.
Plumbing update! New toilet installed. It has a remote. No, seriously, it has a remote. So you think "what does this button ... JESUS FUCK I WASN'T EXPECTING THAT!"
I had no idea what luxury a heated seat is though.
Now I'll go back to living on cat food and mournfully paging through job ads.
Mine is as Oblivious describes hers. I have long legs, so I got the tallest stool I could find at 21", then topped it with a heated bidet seat. It's the most bougie thing I've ever owned, aside from a sports car here and there.
I bought a fabulous bidet seat that replaced my toilet seat. That was in Oxnard. It was heated, the water was heated, the thing had a blow dryer. I loved it.
Had that experience just yesterday. Searching for something on google, and the AI suggestion popup that came up went into a long detailed description that involved fields that don't actually exist on a completely different table structure than I was looking for.
I've seen people be confidently wrong ... but it was more disturbing to see it in print.
On a certain level - my APPLE WATCH ACTIVITY RINGS - are a form of AI - sending me messages (that I don't turn off). This morning's was "You only closed one ring yesterday!" My favorite activity is to yell at my APPLE WATCH TM and say "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!"
This is the same bellend who in an all-tech meeting complained about people who rent. I don't know how this came up, because I wasn't in it, just saw the fallout.
For a start, lots of people who work for AWS live in Seattle or SF so ... they often rent. Apparently they're scum.
The best bit was when he claimed renters "nail their christmas tree to the floor" which is just "wuh?" and ignores quite a few religions
So people sometimes get it into their heads that they can stop an eminent Domaine project by threatening surveyors. Not how it works of course, but it does make doing road and pipe projects extra zesty.
Anyway, one time this one guy left his bull in his field for us. He claimed he just forgot a 2000 lb animal or whatever it is was in there. We did not go into that field that day. Another time he "accidentally" let his young bulls into a field as we were working it. They kept trying to steal our stuff.
I thought that was more inventive than the shoot at the archaeologists one of his neighbors did
In a non-trumpy world (I wish), who is more likely to help make America great: Tricia McLaughlin or Yeonsoo Go?
That is a rhetorical question 'cause you already know the answer.
This is who we are.
The majority of voters put Trump back in office, knowing full well what his agenda would be. We're not nice people, but a nation of violent, ignorant bigots who chose an adjudicated criminal over a mixed race woman with good ideas and a lot of compassion.
We have disgraced ourselves too many times to deny who we are.
True, but with a caveat. Dur to massive Repub cheating, many people who should be allowed to vote are suppressed 'cause the Repubs fear they might vote Dem. Repubs are also effective with massive lies and misinformation; they've got people voting against their own economic wellbeing.
Oh, come on. We all know that. Smh The number of people who chose not to vote and whatever are not enough to throw an election. Face it. AMERICANS SUCK.
Probably already posted but Seth is must watch tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u0qzjSNQ3g
Similar story in a town near me. Several weeks ago, unidentified men with no badges or warrants attempted to enter the home of a man here who filed for asylum. When his family refused to open the door, he was later arrested on the street, without any documentation shown as to why he was being arrested. Agents questioned him about ties to Iran, despite the fact that he was from Libya and had no connection to Iran. He was sent to ICE detention center in Georgia. Bond was set by a judge and then paid in full by the man's family but ICE kept him in detention by using a rarely invoked provision that allows them to override an immigration judge's bond ruling by filing an appeal. This man has finally been released after local leaders got involved but I don't know the details on what actually facilitated the release. It's all shameful and I'm enraged every day over what this country has become.
... what this country HAS ALWAYS BEEN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In2lNmBuz94&t=1s
Will disagree with one statement in this post. America is very much a symbol of something. It's just that that "something" is nothing good.
I simply don't understand the GOP support for pissing away America's standing on the world stage. To what end? It makes no sense...
You understand it fine
The global majority is Black and brown and the white supremacists are having fits about it and believe they can change it by genocide and hoarding all the capital
What you're struggling with is what to DO about it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In2lNmBuz94&t=1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKojAzw_f2U&t=441s
I wonder if the MAGAts will, at some point, wake up to the fact that in most ways the current US is not great. I firmly believe that we are no longer the world's Super Power. We have alienated and lost allies. We have attacked the world with economic warfare, starting with the US. Few countries trust us. We are a laughingstock in many ways.
I think it's time to use a four-country solution. Divide the US into East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and Southern countries. I am quite serious about this. Our current system is corrupt and leads to minority rule by Red State reactionaries. (Note that the South has to take trumpy.)
"I think it's time to use a four-country solution. Divide the US into East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and Southern countries. "
The problem is that THAT WON'T SOLVE THE PROBLEM
https://www.wonkette.com/p/ice-nazis-kidnap-episcopal-priests/comment/143572625
The problem is white supremacy and how people who believe in it want to steal everything that belongs to anyone else AND how other White people who claim not to believe in white supremacy consistently turn their heads away and pretend not to see these widespread & blatant thefts when they happen.
If you tried your "solution" -- you'd see it immediately in the rabid dogfight of people battling to be the ones WHO DRAW THE LINES.
The younger generation of GOP supporters ... maybe.
The older generation are a lost cause. They have grown up on the various myths of "American Exceptionalism", "the shining city on the hill", "the world's last super power", "the greatest generation", "white makes right", the fact that the racism behind Jim Crow and redlining was not only just but valid, etc etc. To lose that is both to lose their identity AND be faced with the fact that they have been duped for more than half their lives. They will NEVER accept that (in large enough numbers to move the needle). They'll die before that happens. Likely in the next pandemic made worse by the combination of hamstringing vaccine research, being lied to by the media they consume, voting to hurt themselves due to hospital closure and insurance cuts.
While I understand the desire to split off parts of America - from both sides driven by a desire to not be in the same country as "them" - the logistics make it a virtual certainty to never happen. Who gets to keep the currency? The military hardware and people? The only way it happens is if the country descends into a protracted civil war and pretty much ceases to exist.
As an example, Sudan has been as war with itself for over 20 years ... and has STILL not settled into any kind of peaceful and logical coexistence.
That fauxlution from upthread is not going to solve the problem
https://www.wonkette.com/p/ice-nazis-kidnap-episcopal-priests/comment/143573194
Thank you for your comment.
I don't mind being in the same country as them. What I mind is having people like trumpy win elections when he absolutely shouldn't. I know it would be a drastic solution, but it would be a solution and one that lots of people would like. We are hardly a united United States at this point. We might as well go for Untied States.
I don't know that dividing the country would or could be any more divisive than a trumpy Presidency. The logistics would take time and effort, but I suspect a lot of people would be willing to work on it for years to get it right. We aren't Sudan and should not suspect things would be the same for us.
Currently we are in a civil war anyway, sometimes with violence and deaths. trumpy attacked California with troops and kidnappers. There is no sign it will get better since more and more voters are being suppressed, disenfranchised, or just plain lied to. We no longer have a democracy.
I would be happy to support a different solution, but I haven't seen any so far that are very effective. Maybe the midterms will offer some support, but the Repubs are trying very hard to make sure they win. They are already dividing the country into separate parts, just without self-rule for those parts.
Trump gets paid.
That's Trump's motivation, sure. But the larger GOP?
Appease T.rump
Give Appease a Chance, huh?
The bottom 10% of your high school class is wielding immense, anonymous, unaccountable power over marginalized communities. Respond accordingly.
So, in other words, she got to go to the head of the line because she's a PK ("preacher's kid", for those not versed in Christianese)?
I guess all those heathen Catholic Mexicans picked the wrong denomination, and can just drown in their own feces in Alligator Aushwitz, eh?
She hardly went to the head of the line. She was kidnapped and held for five days and had to feel uncertain about what would happen to her. She was released because she had a lot of supporters, but the fact that many were Christian is irrelevant.
I'm an atheist myself and not a fan of organized religion, but I can't see any wrongdoing here or any discrimination against Catholic Mexicans (except ty ICE, of course).
I really disagree with blaming Soo for benefiting from being who she is. And many Episcopalian churches are front and center in human rights movements. No one in ICE detention deserves what is happening to them now. Anyone who has an edge is just fortunate to get away from the hell being forced on migrants. The good thing about this happening to a well-known "PK" is that it's one more high-profile ICE fuck up making it across all the news.
Hey kidz, I got through about five minutes of reading the news today (not on this site) and fled to the baby gorilla vid from yesterday. It helped, I'm going to keep it in my "comfort after reading the news" arsenal.
It's TABZ time now anyway! This one has heffalumps.
Zeldin, Noem, Voight ... figures. Donnie "Two Dolls" will just fire the person who reported this.
𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗨𝗦 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗧 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀
CIOs at the EPA, DHS, and GSA are called out for failure to implement critical cybersecurity recommendations
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/05/epa_dhs_gsa_get_failing_grades/
Just wait until all their best people get offers that lure them away to other countries.
Just leave a back door open for Vlad
Department of Homeland Security fails ... basic security procedures.
I'm not shocked.
Zeldin, Noem, Voight ... feels like it's one name shy of evoking something even more dreadfully oppressive.
Three of the Four Horsemen of the Fuckupalypse
Also sounds like an episode of Foundation...
What could possibly go wrong?
I'm sure they were going to get to it right after the photo ops.
Me.
https://featureassets.gocomics.com/assets/fbd9ab404966013eac1c005056a9545d
Horses Need Fingerless Oragami
Is the next recommended book and while it starts off innocently enough it rapidly devolves into NC-17 territory.
I am obsessed with origami but I cannot make sense of the illustrated instructions.
Well, I have come to the decision that it's time to put away the keurig and switch to the espresso machine for a bit. I have a great little pump driven machine (you want a pump to drive the water, not steam driving it) back in 2007 and it's still going strong today. It was one of my very first evil Amazon purchases, WAY BACK in about 2006 when I was living in Boston.
The keurig doesn't make my coffee strong enough; no matter how full I fill the pods and how little water I use, I need stronger coffee.
That was always my complaint with the Keurig. We have a Nespresso now.
I would prefer nespresso, but I don't like the plastic pods.
The pods are aluminum and they’ll send you bags to recycle them in.
There's a knock-off Bond movie plot in there somewhere ...
𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗡𝗔𝗦𝗔 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 – 𝗳𝗼𝗿 $𝟭𝟵𝟵𝗞
Former Space Shuttle support vehicle surfaces after surplus slip-up
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/06/nasa_airstream_trailer/
My city bought a Farris Wheel off ebay, I shit you not.
There is a Bueller joke in there somewhere....
Sure, sure, just a slip up and not TrumpCo selling off everything they can to line their own pockets
Plumbing update! New toilet installed. It has a remote. No, seriously, it has a remote. So you think "what does this button ... JESUS FUCK I WASN'T EXPECTING THAT!"
I had no idea what luxury a heated seat is though.
Now I'll go back to living on cat food and mournfully paging through job ads.
Mine is as Oblivious describes hers. I have long legs, so I got the tallest stool I could find at 21", then topped it with a heated bidet seat. It's the most bougie thing I've ever owned, aside from a sports car here and there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRL4l2GOqXk
I bought a fabulous bidet seat that replaced my toilet seat. That was in Oxnard. It was heated, the water was heated, the thing had a blow dryer. I loved it.
No app? Surely you need one for altering flush volume, length, and direction of swirl.
Maybe it can award Fitbit style badges.
"You have pissed the volume of Lake Superior."
"You have shat the weight of William Shatner (in original Star Trek)."
"You have shat the weight of William Shatner (in TJ Hooker)."
"Eat more fiber"
I have been waiting two years for my renovation to be finished, because my bathrooms will have washlet seats installed.
My in laws had a heated seat. I did not know that and when I went to sit down, shot right back up going WTF IS THAT
It's the little things that make life interesting
Whole Paycheck has a sale on Bachelor Chow! https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fres.cloudinary.com%2Fteepublic%2Fimage%2Fprivate%2Fs--ygjB06UU--%2Ft_Preview%2Ft_watermark_lock%2Fb_rgb%3A000000%2Cc_lpad%2Cf_jpg%2Ch_630%2Cq_90%2Cw_1200%2Fv1669590239%2Fproduction%2Fdesigns%2F36939450_1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=b7feb6fab98dae95042dc7547e73eeec2a7117e7cee8de0d5e5d96f414152701
I'm eating these!
https://summeryule.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/canned-whole-chicken.jpeg
"Screaming at these people works."
Indeed, and more people need to scream.
Too many companies are betting on AI tools to replace people. I'm skeptical.
𝗜𝗧 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗲: 𝗦𝗵𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗟𝗦 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀
The payroll growth we thought we experienced in May and June? Gone, like tears in the rain
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/04/it_job_market_july/?td=rt-3a
Interesting that there is no quality control when it comes to AI.
Had that experience just yesterday. Searching for something on google, and the AI suggestion popup that came up went into a long detailed description that involved fields that don't actually exist on a completely different table structure than I was looking for.
I've seen people be confidently wrong ... but it was more disturbing to see it in print.
They are trying to do that on purpose.
Someone asked what is in it for companies, cause their customers will complain that it is all shitty
And I was thinking...they might complain, but they'll still use that shit. Ain't no murrican about to dump their tech. Maybe we ought to
Andy Jassy is making Hamazone managers give written justification for *any* hire showing why AI can't do the job.
Not even original.. apparently some other asshole started that shit weeks ago.
TBH, I don't see how AI can screw up worse than some of the idiots I work with. Especially after the past few days.
Andy Jassy should have to do the same: he could *easily* be replaced by a decent AI model. Make it cute! Add voice to it!
On a certain level - my APPLE WATCH ACTIVITY RINGS - are a form of AI - sending me messages (that I don't turn off). This morning's was "You only closed one ring yesterday!" My favorite activity is to yell at my APPLE WATCH TM and say "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!"
This is the same bellend who in an all-tech meeting complained about people who rent. I don't know how this came up, because I wasn't in it, just saw the fallout.
For a start, lots of people who work for AWS live in Seattle or SF so ... they often rent. Apparently they're scum.
The best bit was when he claimed renters "nail their christmas tree to the floor" which is just "wuh?" and ignores quite a few religions
Good morning.
Thank you Substack and @susiebright for helping me start my day in a good mood:
https://substack.com/@susiebright/note/c-131398797
True story:
So people sometimes get it into their heads that they can stop an eminent Domaine project by threatening surveyors. Not how it works of course, but it does make doing road and pipe projects extra zesty.
Anyway, one time this one guy left his bull in his field for us. He claimed he just forgot a 2000 lb animal or whatever it is was in there. We did not go into that field that day. Another time he "accidentally" let his young bulls into a field as we were working it. They kept trying to steal our stuff.
I thought that was more inventive than the shoot at the archaeologists one of his neighbors did
AI will never appreciate this nuance because it can never live it's zest life.
Ah, needed that. Warms the heart!