But the news isn't really like that, though. Like, currently my news feed has multiple items on the aftermath of Trump's Lincoln Reflecting Pool project. That is something on the other side of the continent with no impact on my life and which I cannot do anything about. Every local murder gets a news story, even though most individuals are much more at threat from other things. Apes together strong, but maybe not this together.

Setting aside corporate surveillance, I have started to have a love/hate relationship with AI transcriptions in meetings. My auditory processing isn't great, so it is nice to have notes. And it's not replacing a job that someone was doing before. At the same time, it makes me feel more on edge. Everything I say becomes part of a permanent record. And I am part of a public institution, so that is subject to FOIA requests AFAIK.

It isn't really an imperial thing. It's that, 250 years ago, when the tiny, newly independent nation was deciding on a name, no one bothered themselves with a new and unique name. And as you noted, American is the only part of that name that works as a description of a resident, even if it's nonsensical.

If so, then okay. The idea is that single use plastic is used because plastic is so damn cheap. From what I understand, the precursor is basically a waste product from oil extraction. But add a small tax and it breaks the model.

A single cheap fork is less than US$0.01 on a commercial restaurant website. For many restaurants, that is easier to deal with than washing dishes. But let's tack on a $0.05 tax per single use item or $0.50 single use tax. Pass it directly on to the customer on the check.

That puts single use more on an equal footing with restaurants that are reusing dishes. Single use plastic doesn't have its true cost built in. A tax can do that in a transparent way.

Smacking someone with a laptop instead of a chair?

Fred Meyer (owned by Kroger) sells close dated food at half price. Produce with blemishes is set aside and sold in reduced price bundles. I am sure they still throw away plenty of food, but the reduced prices do seem to attract buyers (myself included). Some items just never make financial sense at the regular price, but half price? I'll take it.

And let's hope he lives to see her elected.

I'm not sure if this goes in "The Onion" or "Not The Onion".

Also, if someone has a pickup truck and it's not at least a little dinged up, I'm judging them. Those are working vehicles, not eye candy.

During the Trump presidency, I read a book entitled "They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45". In it, a journalist gives an account of his interviews with people who had been rank-and-file members of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. It really is remarkable what similarities there are.

There are some things that I think will keep the US safe, at least for now. One is that Trump himself is old and will slow down soon. The other thing is that Hitler came to power against democratic institutions that were much, much weaker and younger than what the US has. The Weimar Republic had been established just 15 years prior, whereas the US has had a continuous government for nearly 250 years.

Trump or anyone trying to follow in his stead simply has a lot more in their way. Of course, that's no reason for complacency.

The CFPB and the DEA are a wee bit different, though. You can be angry at the latter and still want the protections of the former.

AIDS. So much AIDS. There's a famous photo from 2018 with the men in black representing the original members of the San Fransisco Gay Men's Choir lost to AIDS and men in white representing those who did not die to AIDS.

Not really. It was always her tactic to make him go nuts. Provoking him into shouting over her would have gone along with that and just made him look bad.

Biden: puts Lina Kahn in charge of the FTC

Lina Kahn: Goes after monopoly behavior, non competes, etc

Trump: Promptly fires Lina Kahn, day one

Protonmail: Clearly Republicans are for the little guy!

Sternly worded letter? Ineffective bleating? Or maybe they'll escalate to expelling a diplomat or two.

An angel of God expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, but with Trump as the angel; Biden and Kamala as Adam and Eve; and the White House as the Garden of Eden.

Nah, timeline's off. He had a stroke before being elected.

US Senators have no recall mechanism. Fetterman is up for reelection in 2028. We will see what happens then.

Her stepkids call her Mamala.

I think if Magneto was written in the present age, he would have been written without the mustache twirling aspect. It has become much more popular to portray both antagonists and protagonists with more depth and grey areas. For that matter, we saw it in some of the recent X-Men movies.

There are some people who actively try to make you feel like politics in the US is hopelessly broken and you might as well just give up. There are many, many people who just want to make things better, whether that's at the federal, state, local, or hyperlocal level. They might disagree on how to do it, and the best ones are the ones that know how to come up with a reasonable compromise when disagreements arise. If you're interested, always look for opportunities.