CNN leaving the mics on so Elizabeth Warren could try and embarrass Bernie Sanders on national TV and hurt his campaign.

Downvoting on principle, as this is the same shit centrists say when Democrats have power, and Donald and Mitch demonstrated for years now that possession of power or lack thereof isn't the problem, it's the will to act that matters.

They were "powerless" to stop Joe Manchin, whose daughter was price gouging people for pharmaceuticals and could have been the subject of a DOJ investigation if Dems gave a shit. They were "powerless" against Kyrsten Sinema, but could have stripped all her committee assignments and given her zero value as a lobbyist, diminishing her ability to monetize her seat significantly.

And what I think they should do is, I think, quite simple.

Expose the dirty secrets of every fascist motherfucker in Washington that supports this, en masse, as a unit, and fucking dare them to react. These people have the Epstein Files, security clearances, oppo firms, etc. Fuck, they can probably get their hands on Donald's medical records and taxes.

They don't need voting power in order to create consequences for fascists.

But that can't happen because the supposed opposition is dirty too, and pretending they're not acting because they're oh-so-powerless is, I think, generous to a silly extent after watching the last 20 years of supposed 'progressive' politics on the part of Dems.

Unless you're a billionaire, you don't have significant power to change anything outside your local zip code, so that's generally where I focus my efforts. I pick up trash around the neighborhood, help my neighbors when they need something, go to city council meetings and testify, attend protests, that sort of thing.

Maybe the most effectual thing I do is that I have a YouTube channel where I create videos to raise awareness of topics around intrusive tech and privacy, and intentionally choose stories that are under-reported, like the recent crusade against Samuel Tunick.

This is the way, if you're one of the morons (or outright collaborators) who still thinks civility is important.

Bog eveything down with procedural bullshit. It's what Mitch would do.

I think the notion that a US senator has the same power as an average citizen is, frankly, absurd.

Bernie Sanders got living wage increases for Disney and Amazon workers not via a vote, but traveling out of his way, showing up at their doorsteps, and giving public speeches about their labor practices. Mitch McConnell changed the entire course of US history, even when his party didn't have any voting power.

As for government existing at the consent of the governed, it sounds nice in principle but it doesn't and never has existed here. The US government has always existed and acted at the consent of the rich and established itself based on violence. You'll recall that originally only wealthy landowning white men could vote, and even Washington himself turned the US military against a group of petulant farmers after becoming president, because they had the balls to oppose a whiskey tax. Most of our founding fathers were rich dudes who abused their slaves in various ways.

I'm not giving myself a pass. I'm just acknowledging reality. Outside of your local zip code you are powerless if you don't have a massive fortune with which to bribe people, but I do firmly believe people should be active in their local sphere and do the good they can.

And I'm pretty clear on what I expect them to do. Use the resources they do have and play dirty. Problem is the Dems are dirty too.

This is the Zohran playbook, and it's what every single DSA should be doing. (And yeah, I know AES doesn't call himself one, but he's one policy-wise for the most part.)

If Hong had answered the stupid questions about her tweets and her half-white son in this way, she'd have won. Her choice was to pretend it's 2014 and people still give a shit about virtue signalling more than being able to feed their families.

Keep it laser-focused on affordability.

I don't know how anyone can be scared of the US at this point.

It's public knowledge that the US has lost allies, lost the war with Iran, lost our bases in the Middle East, and depleted the big, scary weapons that were supposed to be our bread and butter in bullying the rest of the world. It will take 5-10 years, at minimum, to rebuild the weapons stockpile that Donald and Pete depleted in six months, which we know because we've forced allies to buy weapons with delivery targets multiple years in the future.

The only threat left is nukes, which while genuinely scary, Donald seems to comprehend what a bad idea it would be to toss out one of those.

You've totally convinced me.

Senators are powerless.

Thank you for the discussion. Have a great day.

True, but affordability crosses party lines and it's how you win in this particular November.

If you're an artist and you posted your art online it trained the algorithm.

These no talent ass clowns stole our shit. The only way this is ethical is if you took an open source model, trained it only on your own artwork, and are using that to produce new things. (But that requires SOME talent and not being a lazy piece of shit.)

Bummer. Looks like a cool idea art-wise judging by the gameplay trailer.

Too bad these fuckers are too lazy and untalented to do the work themselves.

One would instantly become a legend.

I loosed it by losing 150 pounds. It's a biological bummer that one can literally deflate themselves and things don't re-tighten.

As someone who only travels on two wheels, I can confirm that people wander into my protected bike lanes while scrolling and not paying attention all the time.

Yes, agreed. Fuck cars.

But this is kind of an annoyance, though I can't claim definitively that it's enough of a nuisance to merit civil punishments. Having to slow down for two seconds to let the scroller pass really doesn't bug me that much. (It's when someone is sleeping in the bike lane that I get peeved.)

It's a combination of time and cost of living.

With each passing year more adults are impoverished and/or working multiple jobs for up to 100 hours a week, leaving little time for healthier activities like cooking. (And this state of being remains no matter which ruling party holds power.)

Also, ready-made and frozen meals are generally inexpensive.

I dropped from a 52 to a 38. I've since gained 60 of those pounds back, but a lot of it's muscle.

I kept the fat guy jeans to remind myself of where I started. Body dysmorphia's a huge issue.

HANK THE TANK. <3

Lenny is a furry god who knows how to live. Love it.

What a motherfucker.

Agreed.

In my city we have crosswalks where people can just hit a button and turn on a red light. It still doesn't stop people from wandering into traffic and into my bike lanes every day.