I don’t think Bernie will run again in 2028, but he is still relevant right now because nobody else is taking the lead. I hope people like Walz will step up and try to turn the DNC around. It’ll be an uphill battle even with the DNC, not to speak of the actual election.
Turns out holding back the things that work (like calling fascists “weird”) while not breaking with some of Biden’s unpopular policies was a terrible idea… who would’ve thought? At least Walz is honest enough to admit it. I doubt the DNC will let the social democrats like Walz or Bernie take the lead though… establishment dems would rather stand by and praise Reagan while Trump dismantles the constitution.
I marked all unread emails as read without reading them… FOR THE GLORY OF THE EMPIRE!
There is no inherent goal or point in life. You get to decide. You get to give your life meaning.
It can be hard. Sometimes, material conditions like poverty, working conditions or social pressure make it hard to find meaning. Sometimes, you can loose the meaning, like when you loose a loved one. A good society should help empower all people to give themselves meaning. Sadly this is not the direction many countries are taking nowadays.
But despite everything: You are ultimately empowered to create meaning for yourself. Nobody can truly take that away from you.
Yeah, I agree with you. Banning ads is a good thing. I just wanted to point out that Valve isn’t doing this purely for our benefit. Valve also does some anti-competitive or anti-consumer stuff to keep their near-monopolistic status.
Realistically they’re probably doing this mostly because they don’t get the 30% cut on ad revenue. They want to force publishers to actually charge money through Steam.
I also work in IT and I’ve had decent experiences with wearing noise cancelling headphones. Not only blocks noise but also people are less likely to interrupt you while wearing headphones. I have a whole work playlist of to get me in a focused mood.
I think this happens in other countries too. It’s a result of neoliberalism:
Now, I think the US is having it especially bad. In Germany they do regularly cut social security but we have public health insurance (though the rich get to opt out instead of paying their share) and overall a wealth distribution which is not good but also not quite as bad as the US. We also have a very different job market: Due to lack of highly educated workers, it’s easy to get a job and good conditions if you have a good education (which is basically free if you can afford to take the time). And they can’t fire you willy-nilly, this is hugely important for becoming financially stable and feeling safe.
Our main problem economically is the “Debt Brake” - a rule that limits government debt (and thus spending) without accounting for the required infrastructure investments. That doesn’t make any economic sense - anyone would loan money to make an investment if that facilitates economic growth!
That’s fair actually. When I first heard it without context, I also felt kind of alienated by it.
I think you can be weird in good and bad ways, context matters in this case. I think it’s fair to call out fascists for being “weird” in the sense that they are evil, crooked and - crucially - not relatable for the vast majority of voters. The “weird” thing is about the fascists not being “like us” - and thus very instinctively not trustworthy.
At the same time it’s also possible to be “weird” in an individualistic, relatable and validating way. Most people have insecurities or fears on some level and accepting this “weirdness” can be validating and actually show likeness. I think it’s very clear that Tim Walz didn’t mean it like this.
He didn’t call them weird out of the blue, but rather to sum up his other points about their unrelatable, evil behaviors. The message was something like: “The fascists are not real, believable people. They don’t seem driven by everyday worries like us. They don’t seem to have the same kind of feelings like us.”
And I think that is actually exactly the message that wins elections in this political climate. Debating the issues is getting you nowhere if your opponent has no actual beliefs to debate against. Calling them out for being fake people with no actual beliefs is a better strategy.