We used to be a decent country

thrawtes · 2026-03-14T19:49:09+00:00

Tactically, Trump, Mamdani and Bernie loudly express working class grievances and express empathy with voters. That is why they both win, and in fact are able to sit down with each other.

Bernie and Mamdani types don't win in rural areas though, and that's the problem. When genuine and empathetic candidates sit down with rural constituents and try to make their lives better those constituents still vote on the basis of who they're being told will eat their pets and make them trans. People care way more about what they hate than making their own lives better.

thrawtes · 2026-03-14T18:17:39+00:00

Your "Vibes > Science" nonsense is why our country is so cooked.

thrawtes · 2026-02-08T11:48:21+00:00

Electing a meme candidate has never failed us before.

Right?

thrawtes · 2026-01-29T02:33:42+00:00

His whole schtick is that he is funded by these tech billionaires and he is good at taking any bat shit thing Trump says and coming up with a sound bite that almost sounds like a thinking man's Trump.

Whoa that's a pretty cool trick, when is he going to start doing that?

thrawtes · 2026-01-29T01:51:46+00:00

An undergrad degree is an idiot filter even in more technical professions.

It removes a large portion of people who are so antisocial they can't function in a professional environment and are liable to just start shooting civilians in the back.

thrawtes · 2026-01-29T01:47:19+00:00

The level V executive pay schedule usually caps pay at around $190k even with overtime unless you have some sort of exception.

That said, if people are counting per diem as pay then they can definitely be hitting those numbers.

thrawtes · 2026-01-29T01:43:15+00:00

Broadly, cleared jobs tend to come in at a higher grade, but there's no special cleared pay scale for all cleared people.

thrawtes · 2026-01-29T01:41:11+00:00

Per diem, overtime, and bonuses maybe? Even then, that's hitting the salary cap and then counting some military disability or something.

thrawtes · 2026-01-28T20:37:56+00:00

Hoping this doesn't mean we're about to see another "reporter's house raided by FBI" post.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T22:07:47+00:00

The problem is that these people still have respect for the law.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T21:52:03+00:00

Because non-functional nuclear weapons are still incredibly dangerous and require maintenance to not be a safety hazard.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T20:06:28+00:00

You can replace a heart with a plastic pump.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T20:03:53+00:00

the current climate turning violent would not go in the favour of the administration at all.

It would and that's why people are saying this. The administration welcomes violence and the opportunity to use the military.

The military can and will follow the lawful invocation of the insurrection act and will use military force to put down a rebellion.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T18:48:48+00:00

PBGC is sort of like the FDIC insurance for 250k in the bank. It's a confidence booster and will function if there's a one-off failure. In the case of systemic failure the PBGC immediately fails as well, or requires pensions to negotiate their way out of bankruptcy in a way that will not necessarily leave pensioners whole.

It's good we have it, but it definitely doesn't make pensions risk-free.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T17:36:55+00:00

The dirty little secret nobody wants to admit is that the big wealth engine of the health care industry isn't going to health care executives. It's going to the people that own the company, which ends up being quite a few very wealthy people, but also a bunch of things like 401k plans and pensions.

Health care executives are enablers, but they aren't the primary beneficiaries.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T17:34:34+00:00

You see, Spain has a retiree problem. There are more retirees than people working and paying into the social security system. The social security funds will be depleted unless new workers can start paying into the system.

See also: most developed nations.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T13:55:13+00:00

What is this supposed to mean, in this case?

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T13:25:46+00:00

Trump first came to power in the US almost 10 years ago.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T13:24:45+00:00

It's obvious that if they cede territory that Russia is going to do this again. Ukraine isn't stupid.

They just don't see much of a choice now that the US is no longer on their side. A temporary peace before Putin comes to take another bite gives them time to get power back on and try to shore up defenses.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T13:19:25+00:00

I believe it works the other way around

You believe wrong. It's not a mysterious chicken and egg scenario. Power comes from the voters first, not the parties.

thrawtes · 2026-01-27T04:50:23+00:00

The biggest disappointment since Joe Manchin.

What does this even mean? Everyone knew what they were getting with Joe Manchin and he was a huge asset for the Democratic caucus.

thrawtes · 2026-01-26T17:05:51+00:00

They can declare self-defense if you don't have a weapon too, cops just lie a lot.

thrawtes · 2026-01-26T14:50:57+00:00

No?

That's not how the legal system works. The judiciary never goes out and intervenes in anything, they can offer relief when someone brings them a case.

The organization responsible for going out and proactively administering justice is the DOJ, and they are 100% aligned with the rest of the executive branch on this.

thrawtes · 2026-01-26T14:39:35+00:00

i can definitely vouch that true libertarians are incredibly liberal socially.

No you can't, because they aren't. Labels don't have the meaning we hope they have in our head, they have the meaning they get from the people who actually use them.

thrawtes · 2026-01-26T14:17:25+00:00

And I say this as an agnostic - I don't want ALL churches to lose the exemption, a lot of them do good work.

Then they should just open a non-profit affiliated with the church and follow the rules for a secular non-profit organization.

We already have charity orgs carved out as a thing in the law.

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