Nah, that’s a bit reductive. There’s internal dissent within the conservative movement. Not everyone’s willing to go full fasc with Trump. A good chunk of the judges that were ruling against him in the 2020 election were Federalist Society members.

The Federalist Society handpicked the the conservative majority, not the Heritage Foundation.

Why did it take a Constitutional amendment to allow non-white Americans to vote?

For that matter, why did it take a Constitutional amendment to consider Black Americans as citizens?

America has always had racism, but America has never been a racist country

I’m really quite stunned by this claim. She seems to be parsing words to dodge reality. The US wrote slavery into its Constitution, engaged in a series of racist genocides of the indigenous people, and excluded immigrants of various ethnicities throughout its history. We’ve certainly improved, but to say we’ve never been governed by racism is either ignorant, revisionist, or pandering to some of the worst people.

It’s paid off sometimes in the Senate, like with the bipartisan infrastructure bill. That was passed in the Democrat-controlled House and then negotiated in the Senate. The problem is the current Republican-controlled House, where extreme right wingers hold much greater sway.

There’s certainly no need to tussle over it in California. Trump wouldn’t win in California anyway and it would just feed into the persecution narrative among his fan base.

This is the case I try to make to people on the left who complain about corporate white washing, or whatever they want to call it. Mainstream corporations feel like it’s advantageous to have their symbols out there in pride parades, environmentalist goals, anti-racism, and anti-sexism. Corporations are obligated at a certain level to follow the money, and they have read the signs and chosen to align themselves with these progressive causes. If nothing else, this is a good sign of where the country is headed.

Are you sure Judge Gen, Almighty Judge on High of All Beings Living and Dead for All Eternity, is not the more appropriate judge of this sort of thing?

What’s the relationship to the Burrito Supreme? Does it come with sour cream?

Haley and Christie are bad but survivable. I usually try to keep my claims measured, but Desantis and Ramaswamy are every bit as fascist as Trump. I would genuinely fear for the country under the last three.

In September, Christie looked directly into the camera and declared that if Trump keeps skipping debates, he would deserve a new nickname: “Donald Duck.”

I remember the Clinton campaign had something about “Donald Duck” because of his refusal to publish his tax returns. Maybe it was sending someone in a Donald Duck costume to his rallies? I don’t know, the joke always kinda fell flat. It made sense when you explained it, but then it’s not funny, is it?

Back when I was doing a weekly shopping trip on my bike with panniers, I tried self-checkout once when the cashiers were busy. Never again. The tall bags just screwed with the sensors too much. Now I’m maybe a bit more inclined to use it because I moved to a house just a quick walk to the store. It can make sense to just dump all of the items on the weighing platform and put them in my backpack and reusable bags later.

Interesting. I’m not going to stop doing it, but still, interesting.

Make your bed each morning. Your bedroom will look more organized and you will have a nice bed to lie down in at night.

Especially anyone who believes that individuals are less free now than they were historically in the United States. Only the ignorant or biased make that claim.

I don’t see any problem with a system to detect drunk driving and bring the car to a stop. There is no right to drive a car while drunk or otherwise impaired. Inventing one by calling upon privacy also ignores that the cops can pull you over and give you a sobriety test if they have reason to anyway. In 2021, over 13,000 people in the US died from drunk drivers. They deserve protection.

The problem with doing that is that people then get more hesitant about putting money into a country. Would you invest in a country if there’s a good chance its leadership is just going to do an about face and tax your wealth into nothing? Take your possessions? It’s part of the reason why many countries struggle to get foreign investment. Their past has caused businesses to have little faith that investments won’t just get nationalized by the government.

Yeah, 200k and DINK. I want to have my taxes raised, just as long as others like me also have have their taxes raised.

That’s going to have to be part of it, but it can’t be all of it. There isn’t enough money in the upper class to take care of all of the debt, and at a certain level of taxation they will just move. I will speak in favor of increasing taxes on around pretty much every individual making over 100k or couple making over 200k. For a single person working 40 hours a week in the US, that is the 77th percentile. My husband and I are in this position and I think starting the additional tax burden with us would be fair.

I don’t see raising taxes much below us as being very productive, and those “flat tax” people can fuck right off. That group is already paying money into entitlements so the oft repeated statement that half of households pay no income tax is misleading. They’re really struggling right now, so I just don’t see an increase in taxes as productive.

For reading, digital. I can have access to a functionally unlimited number of books. They also tend to be less expensive. That makes a difference for media like manga where it racks up pretty quickly. And I can make adjustments to the text and lighting that help with readability.

I still like having some books around as decoration. They bring a room together nicely.