How do young people meet new people these days? I met my husband while at work. Became official via Facebook status.

This is my friend. Had a Steam Deck and couldn’t figure out Steam OS so they installed Windows on it instead. He’s very tech literate but somehow can’t grasp Linux. On the other hand, I’ve transitioned fine to Linux Mint.

Damn. Human trafficking on a grand scale out in the open. Good luck to all Americans. Fight the good fight.

El Salvador will only take in men though, right? If that’s the case, what’ll happen to the women and children?

And where, pray tell, would he deport US citizens to?

Fear & Hunger 1 & 2 for me among others. Stellar Blade not on sale though… I get it but… It’s so expensive…

Maybe it’s Crony capitalism instead?

Look, I have a cousin in Texas who voted Republican last election. She’s very smart; works as a psychiatrist for neurodivergent children. Her reasoning for voting that way was because they ‘reflect and represent’ her values: low taxes and small government. She says she doesn’t like Trump but voting Republican doesn’t mean that she’s voting for Trump, she’s voting for her party.

I’ve spoken to her at length because I wanted to understand where this thought process comes from and my conclusion was that it’s total cognitive dissonance, and that’s a choice she’s made. I know she’s smart and rational but when it comes to politics, it seems to me that most Americans just don’t care or justify their ignorance with mental gymnastics.

If you can’t blame them, that’s fine, you do you. However, for me, shame on those who voted Trump in a second time. Shame, shame, shame.

But people don’t exist in a vacuum. You’re part of a community that’s still functioning.

You say as if everyone is straight jacket bound, hands and feet wrapped tightly, eyes blindfolded and mouth plugged. Born that way, in fact. If that were actually the case, you’d all be dead and your country would cease to exist.

You forget to think how this all starts. Everyone is born with free will. You end up in the deep end because of the first few steps you take, and you always have a choice to either stay or change yourself or others. Some choices are easier than others and I’m saying that Trump got in because people chose to be selfish or greedy or ignorant.

What about Dead Poets Society? I haven’t seen it in decades but it made me cry a lot.

My understanding is that for the US to go to war, it needs to be passed in Congress. Trump bombing Iran last week was not passed through Congress and is an act that can get him impeached, is also my understanding.

As for the previous events, my assumption was that it was passed by Congress. But if not, then… That’s a failure of your own system and I can’t really say anything other than that.

Huh?! But it’s clear grounds for impeachment! I hope everyone starts flooding their inboxes and phone lines…

But that’s my point regarding healthcare. You guys just accept the status quo and this is where it has gotten you. It was never always like this in America; it’s just that the noose has slowly been tightening around your necks and you just… Let it be.

It’s always a choice. You can stand there with your mouths agape and be fed with hook, line and sinker. Or you can choose to seek out the information, have conversations, choose to listen and process, choose to be open minded…

Just like choosing to bury your head in the sand is also a choice. A Florida rep recently chose to ignore evidence and reality and blame the opposition for almost dying after having an abortion. She can also afford mental healthcare but obviously chooses not to.

Avoidance is still a choice. Remaining apathetic is a choice. Remaining ignorant is a choice. Voting for a felon, for a second time, is a choice.

All of them. There’s so many.

Sunfish. Vampire squid. Blob fish. That terrifying worm that hides. Pistol shrimp.

It’s a whole new world down there. Forget Mars!

Not really. Brain drain from an institution to do evil stupidly is an even worse outcome. Very unpredictable and very unstable for everyone.

… Yes it is.

And this.

Gullibility is a failure of social intelligence in which a person is easily tricked or manipulated into an ill-advised course of action

Don’t forget that most of American media outlets aren’t very conservative, compared to places like Australia and China, for example, where a majority if not all the media is owned and operated by a single entity.

Australia managed to shirk the rise of Dutton and the Liberal party, which is GOP-wannabe-lite, and we kicked them to the curb even though almost all of our media did a massive scaremongering campaign and was constantly doing puff pieces and character assassinations.

So, I’m saying that you all do have a choice and, additionally, you all desperately need access to proper mental healthcare because only truly sick and gullible people could vote for Trump again.

Go to all the live gigs, then invest. Probably steal PayPal.

As an outsider, I don’t blame the people who voted for him the first time but the second time? Nope. People had a choice to be less gullible because there was evidence that he is not fit to lead: felony charges, nepotism, incompetence, derangement etc.

It’s cognitive dissonance from the top down.

HACK THE PLANET!

I don’t believe that.

It’s likely because the market has consolidated to a small number of companies who can dictate the means of production and how their consumers interact with their product.

When the personal computer market was young, entries from all sorts of manufacturers flooded in. Some failed, some succeeded. Everything had to be configured by the user because universal standards hadn’t been developed yet. This allowed for some people to be exposed to the back end, which have them some understanding of how their technology worked. It enhanced problem solving skills.

If anything, 'Plug and Play" probably had more involvement in enshittification than Google. Taking out the problem solving and moving the goal to consumption.