Wrench

@Wrench@lemmy.world

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Wrench ,

And the prolonged use of drugs, for his entire life, but also specifically during his presidency.

Wrench ,

Maybe, but going against Isreal has been political suicide up until now. The more protests, the easier it makes deviating from unconditional support, which again, has been unbroken US policy since the beginning of Isreal.

Add to that how important our foothold in Isreal is to the US both militarily and economically (in the form of ensuring the safety of shipping down the seas), it's a huge deal to go against Isreal.

So yeah, protests help give an excuse. It doesn't mean it's changed anyone's minds on the morality of it all, but that it frees them to actually act on something previously untouchable.

Wrench ,

That's the Karen super power. Eventually, someone high enough to be detached from the drama will just waive whatever the dispute is because it's costing the company more in billable hours than the charge that's disputed.

It happens frequently enough that the Karen's feel like they're right, and continue their belligerent crusades.

Recommendations for the smelliest, most loved by cats fish oil? ( sopuli.xyz )

So many fish oils for pets are made to smell like almost nothing so owners don’t find the smell offensive, but my cats turn up their noses to it. Lily (bottom 2 pics) starts pawing at the floor and walls as if she’s trying to cover up some shit in the litter box, even though she is food obsessed. Her favorite thing in the...

Wrench ,

Don't have any fish oil recommendations, but if you can find some in standard sized capsules, you can pill them without any scent.

We use a 5ml syringe with the front cut off, with a tiny amount remaining so the plunger doesn't push through. We can fit full human sized capsules in there. Load wet food in, put pill after, loaded in the tip. Fires it down their throat and tastes like regular food.

Wrench ,

Glad to help! Works way better than those pill poppers. One of our cats now refuses to eat on her own, and will harass us until we syringe her. Multiple cans a day with this method, and she loves it!

Wrench ,

There are a lot more positions to vote on than the POTUS.

The more support the president has in the other branches, the more they all can do, and the future fewer consessions.

The fact of the matter is, the Dems need majorities in both houses, and enough margin that a couple DINOs can't fuck everything up.

Wrench ,

Just look at the Lemmy (highly Progressive demographic) comments around this protest. Lots of "I will not vote for genocide" comments all around.

And bringing up that their refusal to vote for Hillary for similar protests, I.E. "I will not vote for DNC corruption" , contributed to Trumps 2016 win, that resulted in generations of damage, all you get is denials, that the DNC made them do it.

So yeah. Academically, you're right. They are not saying they will not vote for Biden in the general election. But if the progressive dialog around this protest is any indicator, there are many who will not.

Progressives are the easiest vote to disenfranchise. All it takes is one wedge issue, and they are out.

Wrench ,

Eh. The entire republican party is rotted to the core. Everyone continuing to fall in line after Jan 6th demonstrated that beyond any doubt.

If you were to rewind the clock 20 years, and regular republican could probably beat Biden. But it's not just the president. It's the entire party. And I hope enough people would understand that enough to not vote a "normal" republican in.

But the fact that it seems close to half the voters in this country actually want blatant corruption, abuse of powers, and straight facism. It's mind blowing.

Wrench ,

Campaign for local progressives, build up your influence from the ground up.

Right now, you are a fringe vote that the DNC does not take seriously because you don't have enough representatives to control more of the party.

Wrench ,

The problem with McConnell wasn't just that he was evil. It was that he was competently evil, and had his entire party in line.

There are a lot of MAGA idiots who are pure evil, but as Johnson is finding out, and McCarthy before him, it actually takes skills to accomplish sustained evil.

Wrench ,

Progressives in a nutshell. They will be upset with the status quo no matter what.

Even if Bernie was nominated and elected, progressives would have turned on him within a year, because he wouldn't have been able to get policy passed without major concessions, which would then alienate the progressive base for not being perfect.

Wrench ,

"Deferred" like he's likely to be back in 2028. Extremely unlikely he will be eligible by then, and even more unlikely he'll even be able to mentally/physically fit enough to campaign. He's already falling to pieces.

Wrench ,

Yes, others will claw over each other to try to be the next idol. It doesn't mean anyone will succeed.

There is no 100% win on the table here. Absolutists like you need to accept that sometimes, you just need to take the win you can get, and work towards incremental improvement for the next time.

And no, communist revolution won't solve anything, nor is it even remotely possible.

Wrench , (edited )

I mention the communist revolution thing because your points echo a lot of tankies here.

Vote progressive all you want. Volunteer for their campaigns. I'm all for it, as long as you're not giving the populists/fascists ammo (Ex: attack ads). But if you don't fall in line and vote blue for the presidential election, well, I have zero respect for people who can't prioritize and vote for the real candidate that they think is obviously better, in this political environment where we're teetering on the edge of facism.

If you vote independent or don't vote, the only statement you're making is that you'd rather destroy this country than vote against tyranny vote for someone that isn't your first choice, but leagues better than the other.

Especially since we already got Trump in 2016 because people couldn't swallow their distaste and vote for Hilary.

Wrench ,

Yes. That's exactly it. I had no love for Clinton, or even the dems. I would have preferred Bernie, simply because I felt he would do better against Trump.

And at that point, it wasn't even my side vs their side. I wasn't even a registered Dem. It was simply the entire Republican lineup was a national embarrassment, and Trump was the biggest ass of the bunch.

So yes, when one candidate is as big of a jackass as they come, who very clearly intended to just fill his own pockets any way he could, versus someone competent, experienced, but rather unlikeable, it was a very clear choice. And I blame all you short sighted fucks for selfishly throwing this country to the lions because you refused to let things go and acknowledge that one candidate was clearly less bad than the other for the country.

And then Trump went beyond all expectations and really fucked this country up worse than anyone even imagined a single President could. We're going to be dealing with the fallout for generations, just from his SCOTUS appointments alone, let alone all the other damage he did.

And now he's back, running again. And despite all the damage he has already done, and has clearly indicated he will attempt to destroy our very democracy if he gets half a chance, you still can't swallow the bitter pill to just accept that now isn't the time to fuck around, and just support the obvious candidate even if he doesn't perfectly align to your preferences.

Grow the fuck up and learn to triage, or this country is going to bleed out while you focus on a fucking bunion instead of the gaping chest wound.

Wrench ,

Yep, intentionally modifying your speech patterns to be understood better isn't exactly adopting a new accent, it's just using simpler/common words and enunciating.

Wrench ,

I mean, the cops killed George Floyd for using a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store in Minneapolis.

Detroit (where this happened) is just one state over.

Wrench ,

The moral of The Boy Who Cried Wolf is that there was a real wolf at the end.

As exhausting as it is, there's a very real threat this dysfunctional House majority actually drops the ball and fucks everyone. In fact, the MAGA caucus delights in the idea.

They may be relying on burnout to let it finally fail.

Wrench ,

That's weird. And here I thought that stating the facts without a narrative was good reporting.

I cane to the conclusion of "oh, so probably a bribe, then" from the facts. Until someone actually accuses them of crimes, it's best for the news to just highlight suspicious circumstances.

Wrench ,

Or we could legislate checks and balances, so that we can hold powerful people accountable for corruption.

Wrench ,

Congress could pass the legislation, but they're just as corrupt

Wrench ,

The Swastika comment is the bigger slip, or was this in response to something nazi related? Because who goes straight to nazi graffiti besides someone with nazis on the mind?

Wrench ,

I haven't played a GT in a very long time. That's not what they are anymore? I have up on the genre when each car part had like 20 options and I had no clue what was good for a given track

Wrench ,

And the Clinton emails, meanwhile they don't give a shit about their God deliberately taking and hiding boxes of classified secrets to sell off to foreign powers.

Wrench ,

I am a renter with pets, and don't think landlords should be forced to accept renters with pets.

I also acknowledge that pets can do an insane amount of damage to a property if not properly cared for.

I helped my brother repair the damage from a squatter (long story) after he allowed 4 dogs to completely destroy the interior. We were sanding pee saturated studs and priming over them, after ripping out all of the drywall, just to try to defeat the stink.

That's more damage than any plausible pet deposit can hope to cover. It was absolutely disgusting.

Wrench ,

Outlier. Anecdotal. Do you actually have reliable statistics to say otherwise, or are you walrusing?

Wrench ,

Nothing quite like seeing Trump Won and confederate flags being waved in Canada. Special kind of stupid.

Wrench ,

Changing your mind can be a good thing, if your decision is based on new facts and a change in public opinion.

Changing your mind because wealthy doners tell you to is not.

I honestly don't care to dive into Romneys past enough to figure out which is which. But changing one's mind over a lifetime in politics is probably a good thing.

Wrench ,

So... you're saying he represented the people he was elected to represent, and worked within those bounds?

The dog thing is a weird ass thing to bring up in a discussion on his politics.

I voted against him for president. I'm sure I disliked his conservative policies, and dems had a good candidate, so it was a no brainer. But I don't need to demonify him.

Wrench ,

Did you learn bullying and ganging up on people in school, too?

Ironically, yeah, sort of.

Learning to read the room and make jokes (sometimes at other's expense) is certainly something you learn from frequently socializing outside of your immediate circle.

Something that your extreme touchiness in this thread highlights. You're in an internet forum taking an aggressive stance on something unpopular, and repeatedly whine that other's aren't held to the same expectations.

You stood on the hill to die. You chose that. You homeschooling mommy and daddy can't insulate you when you leave your safe space.

And yes, that last snark was bullying. I couldn't help myself.

Trump Is Losing It: It is unclear whether Donald Trump has forgotten the precise nature of NATO or whether he ever fully grasped it in the first place. ( www.nytimes.com )

What is clear, however, is that Trump — who ostensibly spent four years as president of the United States — has little clue about what NATO is or what NATO does. And when he spoke on the subject at a rally in South Carolina over the weekend, what he said was less a cogent discussion of foreign policy than it was gibberish...

Wrench ,

And the other guy is slightly older

Wrench ,

Why do the natives have an iron morningstar?

Wrench ,

As it should be. Anything else would have been giving the GOP a golden ticket for their golden turd

Wrench , (edited )

You're wanting ambivalent debate during a war.

The Right has weaponized propaganda. They are extremely effective had taking any perceived weakness in their opponent, and blowing it out of proportion that even non-Right leading voters believe their new talking point is a real problem.

The landscape of politics has changed. Until we can get back to normal philosophical difference between adults, we can not let the Dems implode in inner fighting, as they are known to do.

I wholly reject your argument. There is a time and place for your idealistic model. This is not it. This country is hanging on by a thread, and the GOP is actively trying to cut it.

Edit - you downvoters are acting like we didn't just get Trump in 2016 largely because of infighting in the Left that disenfranchised voters. And we'll be paying the consequences for a generation because of it.

To many idealists here that can't see the forest for the trees.

Wrench ,

I was refuting that open debate against the incumbent president would be good for the Dems. That the DNC funding alternate candidates would be a net positive. My argument is that it could only result in division, and would greatly improve the GOP's position.

Wrench ,

Agree when there's no incumbent, and there's no MAGA nazi front runner. And if the Dems run clean campaigns without dragging their fellow Dems through the mud.

For the time being, the stakes are too high to give the GOP any ammo, at all.

Wrench ,

He's no where near as scary. He's a spineless MAGA yes man, who afaik has only drawn the line at literally letting the US currency tank due to defaulting on the national debt. And presumably, only because he doesn't have a reliable foreign golden parachute to replace his current amassed wealth.

He's only dangerous because he followed orders from dangerous people. Trump is way worse.

Wrench ,

Yeah, you could be right. But the guy was a distant afterthought for house speaker. His only draw was that he was obedient to the orange one, in order to get the MAGA caucus, and the other Republicans were just desperate for anyone.

This is more of a marginally useful idiot, not the next face of the republican party. As much as I don't understand Trumps apparent charisma, it's apparent he had some. I don't see any reception at all to Johnson besides "he is doing what we want"

Wrench ,

I would go so far as to substantiate any claim of police abuse if their camera was off.

Police testimony inadmissible, and suspects testimony as the truth.

If they don't like it, they will be motivated to cooperate with camera mandates rather than tamper with them.

Wrench ,

He meant Nancy Pelosi (and schumer) insurrected against his rightful rule by coordinating with the police, mayor, and national guard to squash his... "good people"

Wrench ,

Then vote Democrat across the board. He needs a majority in both the House and Senate for some of those, and a super majority to go against the Supreme Court afaik.

Voting matters. If you want results, Biden needs the numbers.

Wrench ,

You mean that one time for 3 months during Obamas term, where they were focused on trying to get Healthcare reform in? Because there's no other time in recent history where the dems controlled both houses with a dem potus

Wrench ,

You got to stop working? I just worked from home.

Wrench ,

This is why we, the voters, need to react to blatant corruption and fascism by voting the offending party out of office. If the dems get a super majority, they can actually oust the corrupt politicians and judges, oust the Trump appointees still causing havoc.

That's how our democracy is supposed to work. If there's rot within, all parties are supposed to band together and cauterize the rot. But the Republicans are entirely taken over at this point, so voters need to rip them from their seats until we have enough dems (or aligned independents, though that's not really plausible) to have a super majority so they actually have the authority to do what needs to be done.

Voting matters. Enough of this bullshit "both sides". One side isn't perfect, but the other side are literal fascists trying to establish a dictatorship.

Wrench ,

That's why we need to be vocal that your vote matters, that if you participate in democracy, there is an actual avenue to solving the massive problem we're in.

Our democracy has mechanisms to rip power away from bad actors, but it needs a super majority. And since elected Republican officials are unwilling to remove their own, it's up to the voters.

After dems have a super majority and purge the rot, they will undoubtedly split into multiple parties, since dems aren't anywhere close to one mindset. This is actually the path to ranked choice voting that gets touted here repeatedly. Same with the electoral college.

Lemmy is plagued by tankies trying to make it seem like there's no point in voting, that "revolution" is the only way forward. They need to be shut down every time. They breed this apathy you mentioned, and it's simply not true.

Wrench ,

or people who can afford to pay 300% need to refrain on principle

We couldn't even get people to wear masks during a pandemic. You think we can get people to stop buying shit they can afford at extortion rates? GPU market already shows how that worked.

Biden warns of a 'nightmare' future for the country if Trump should win again, and lists reasons why ( apnews.com )

President Joe Biden on Sunday ticked through a list of reasons he says a second Donald Trump presidency would be a “nightmare” for the country as he urged Nevada Democrats to vote for him in the state’s presidential primary this week and for his party at large in November....

Wrench ,

Trump was supposed to be a puppet like Bush. While he was for things like appointing judges, he definitely went off the rails and hijacked the party. The senior leadership certainly didn't want Jan 6th happening.

Trump is no puppet. He lashes out randomly, and sicks his mob on anyone that opposes him.

Wrench ,

I've complained multiple times that the community needs to reject clickbait and opinion pieces, but we still get a bunch of garbage from Newsweek, salon, etc.

Downvote and move on

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