It’s an idealized world that was created by ad agencies to sell shit to people.

I do think all the Democrats, should take more opportunities to visit their states to make people aware of what’s going on, what they’re doing in Congress to try to stop the worst stuff happening, and what ordinary people can do to push back as well. I think members should also boost each others message because probably pages like AOC’s have a lot more viewers from a district than their own district’s House Rep.

Good they are doing some legislative opposition, but you’re right they need to be doing more to push back outside of congress.

I’ve wondered if the they started buying ads on mobile games with a quick few lines to tell people what they have done or what the republicans are doing would work?

you by-pass large media, you get a younger audience and it gets a message out there quickly.

How I see it is that you are meat “matter” right now. When you die your meat matter is eaten by worms and flys (maybe). Some worms and flys then become part of the animal that eats them. Some of your meat matter becomes plant matter. You are not you anymore but you are now other parts of this earth. Obviously there is no consciousness that follows but your energy and your matter live on in different forms.

Edit: maybe there is a spiritual side that moves on a different path from the meatbag side which moves into a different vessel to experience life and the universe in a different way?

The best part about this is that this will give blackrock more homes to purchase with cash to the rent out to people at ridiculous prices. /s

Sorry, I’ve become way to cynical these days about virtually everything, I need to go touch grass.

I think we are talking about leadership at different points of time.

The leader that America needs right now is someone to articulate and draw people together behind the idea of “Throwing the bums out” and in that context there is a large coalition of people that agree with that sentiment.

What happens after the bums are gone is where the in-fighting and purity tests start to take hold. But having the opportunity to argue about whether Leader A’s policy of taxing the billionaires at 90% vs. Leader B’s policy of 70% tax rate on them would be a welcomed change.

I completely agree that we can’t blindly blame this on election fraud, that is a form of denial. Which I will admit is part of my Tinfoil hat rant above.

But if there are credible sources that are stating they have doubts about the legitimacy of the results there should be an investigation. Note, this isn’t really about this past election, I know of no evidence that shows fraud only slight rumblings from “unknown sources” which isn’t legitimate to me.

My concern is that the Stop the Steal movement, that was using weak or even made up evidence to support their cause has made future allegations less likely to be taken seriously.

trump isn’t a strong leader, he’s a very accomplished con artist.

He allows people to project their vision of who he is on him.

You say I’m christian? Sure I’ll pretend I am

You say I’m anti abortion? Sure I’ll pretend that I am

You say I’m for the little guy? Sure, I’ll pretend that I care about them

You say I’m anti-vax? Sure, I’ll tell you that I am

You say I’m the second coming of Christ? Okay, I’m good with you thinking that about me

You say I’m a strong patriot? Sure, I’ll hug the flag and say the words you need me to say

He is everything to everyone of his supporters because he never tells them that they are wrong about who he is.

A strong leader is someone that has strong convictions and articulates them in a way that resonates with the population. They are not people that waffle in their ideals, you either like their stance or you don’t. Smart ones will adjust their ideas over time but they do this from a strong ideological foundation. Some are genuinely good people like MLK, jr. others are more despotic. What America needs is one or two genuinely good strong leaders.

we voted for this

<Tinfoil hat>

Did we? There are some suspicions of voter fraud in some swing states and it sure as hell isn’t below musk to attempt something like that.

Yet, I think that the past MAGA crazies screaming about “election fraud” and “stop the steal” has poisoned the well for legitimate future calls for investigating potential fraud in elections. On top of that it also makes people that question the results sound like the crazies of the past.

It could explain why trump is allowing so much power to musk.

</Tinfoil hat>

Source: I have no source. It’s all feels over reals and a partial lack of acceptance that so many American people are that dumb.

Honestly I think a large majority of people would be on board with this system, the thing is how do you describe this to a disengaged voting population in a way that is understandable but brief ? And at the same time, how do you quickly counter the ‘communist’ argument that would come from the ultra-capitalist right?

I don’t think that there is a tactical thought to people wanting to vandalize Teslas. I think that there is a true sense of helplessness on not being able to do anything to stop these fuckers. So in in the place of something more substantial the anger and frustration is being taken out on something associated with musk

Is it right? Probably not. Is it understandable, yes

The assumption that everyone else in the country is just him, an able bodied person of working age is telling of how much thought this person put into their vote.

Also the assumption that they will be able to get another job of equal pay even with keeping up his skills. That is a big and stupid gamble.

The number of people that would go to the woods makes me think that staying in a city would be a better option.

True.

One conservative acquaintance voted for trump to bring Jesus to the country and to stop abortion.

Another voted for trump because they worship money and believe that another trump administration will help him get richer.

Hell, elon musk could take over the Treasury of the United States and no one in power would do anything about it…

My response is:

Good, as long as I don’t think about it.

It’s a great thought experiment to get us to think about what is truly important -

No one is going to answer “work more” or “continue to conform to other’s expectations of me.” or any other thing that we are taught to believe are important.

Sure having some savings is important, your health is important (except maybe not so much in this instance), but really life is about experiencing life not creating shareholder value or working hard to blend into the crowd just to make other people less uncomfortable.

I know I went off on a tangent, I do that often. But I’ve been thinking more about how in the west we are taught aggressively from a young age what is deemed important (work, money, prestige, name brand things, etc) and what is frivolous (hobbies, family, friends, etc) and then people wonder why life sucks. It doesn’t suck, it’s that you are trying to conform to something that goes against your true nature.

To answer the question: travel, spend time with people I love, play video games, eat more cheeseburgers, drink more beer.

Hell the 2000’s were bad - but it was just an extension to decades, if not centuries of homophobia. Watch the first 5 minutes of Eddie Murphy’s RAW to see what was socially acceptable to say in the late 70’s, early 80’s.

I’d want to do a series of shows based on the chapters from World War Z

I kinda get the feeling that part of this was a loyalty test for main stream media to see how they were going to report on something that was obviously a nazi salute.

Was it going to be “Musk is swatting at fly, the liberal media goes off the rails with crazy nazi conspiracies.” Or “Musk is a fucking nazi, he needs to be deported”

Which is going to get the “love” of this administration?

Nothing kills the joy of a hobby faster than trying to make a living out of it.

It’s one of the symptoms of the SYSTEM when a kid shows talent and/or strong interest in a thing, it could be most anything, the adults that this child looks to for guidance push them to make this interest and/or talent into a career. And as soon as that suggestion takes root in that child’s head then it just time before the hobby/talent is abandoned with regret and sadness.

This may not be universal but it’s not rare either - as you know first hand.

Hope one day you can, if you want, get back to what drew you towards playing music in the first place and I hope you find joy in it for nothing more than that.