That is something that people only understand at their own pace. Being shouted at, shamed by others, tends to reinforce the problem. It makes them defensive.

I get that venting can make the people who were right feel better, but that’s usually all it does.

For a good example, the left have been right about the problems in the DNC since 2015, and it has not helped whenever we point this out. Shouting at conservative Democrats has only made them more defensive, and alienated both sides from each other.

As usual, the solution is hard. Work towards building power and organisation from the bottom up, and don’t waste time hoping that the people who benefit from this mess will magically decide to do the right thing. I wish I hadn’t wasted so much time doing that.

Focus on what people need, pick three or four straightforward policies, and do everything you can to push those forward and promote your sincere effort to do so.

Don’t accept any funding from groups who want things you do not want, because that funding will be a chain holding you back.

Don’t lie.

Don’t. Lie.

People, the ones you want support from, aren’t fucking stupid. Don’t lie.

2 days? My friend, you are not making soup properly. 😄

Ah, I see. You need to do research here, man. There’s a specific situation you’re not aware of.

These roast chooks are cheaper than fresh raw ones because they make them from fresh ones that are about to pass their use-by date. So, even though it seems like it makes no sense, it is actually true that a cooked chicken from the deli costs less than one you have to cook yourself.

La di da, we got a sausage prince over heah boys, not good enough for our offcut tubes /s

You’re a troll. Go away.

Nah, if I handle yours like an oldschool mouseball, you get all screamy. Really ruins the mood.

Gaza would have been worse, because Netanyahu would have kept up the bombing.

However, Kamala would never have defunded USAID, so those million and a half people who are dying right now from starvation and disease would be alive.

So, honestly, not voting for Kamala was a bad idea.

But it’s still because of the DNC corporate donors that Trump is in office right now, because they refuse to allow the people a progressive alternative.

Blame is pointless. I am talking about what needs to change. Shouting at reluctant third party voters will do nothing but raise your blood pressure.

Campaigning for the downfall of Chuck Schumer, there’s a worthy cause.

Oh yeah, mate, that’s gonna fix it.

Well, you can live on rice and beans pretty well, and simple salad is cheap. But yes, I agree. Vegans pay more than vegetarians, because milk and eggs are cheap.

Honestly the illegal cab company has been the most useful for me. Sometimes my car breaks down.

Mind you, the best illegal service I ever used was Dream market. Very convenient for buying acid and weed.

Very good point. I have had many nitpicky conversations about whether China is capitalist or not, and I’m beginning to come around to the label of state capitalism, because it does describe the essential part: the interests of capital not being able to exercise primary control over society. Instead, the state decides. In the US system, capital does what it likes without restraint.

Elsewhere in the West, sometimes the state has some ability to push back against the interests of capital, but mostly this is just used to keep the system stable. Universal healthcare is, after all, good for business. Many other policies which benefit us humans are only feasible because they primarily benefit the long-term health of the market. I am speaking from an Australian perspective.

I appreciate that you believe you are right and have good intentions, but I think I can cheer you up. Look at the kerfuffle over Bad Bunny. The guy is seriously, overwhelmingly popular. The show was watched and enjoyed by the majority. And he’s not white, by your definition.

Also, think about Barack Obama for a second. If he ran again, he’d win easily, even with all the flaws we saw in his government. Sheer fucking charisma. A lot of Trump voters formerly voted for Obama.

AOC is young, progressive, and genuinely popular. She can talk like a normal person, unlike Trump or Hillary or Kamala. You watch her, and she seems cool, and she seems smart, and she believes in something, and she’s not a hundred years old.

A lot of people respond well to these simple, positive qualities in a politician. Look at Zohran Mamdani. He had all those qualities, and good policy promises in his campaign, and very little bullshit. If she can add those two things, and stay consistent in her message, she’s going to win the primary.

Her ethnicity is kind of irrelevant to all that. She is the best candidate for the Dems in 28.

And then me and all the other lefties can complain every time she compromises with the corpo bastards who actually run the country, while she hopefully manages to make the place even a little bit better than it has been. Just achieving small positive change would be a beautiful thing in these times.

And the DNC will still install Gavin Newsom.

Why do you think you can insult people without being insulted yourself?

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Yeah, as a big fan of a lot of what China does, and a socialist, I’ve noticed that some fellow fans have a tendency to try and reflexively push back against criticism, no matter where it comes from, because they’re used to any criticism being just capitalist propaganda.

It’s not helping the socialist cause. Neither are the anarchist purists. It’s important to recognise that nobody, and no system, holds the whole truth, and that what we really need to move beyond capitalism does not yet exist, so anyone who thinks that the Chinese system is the universal way forward is wasting their time.

Edit: Oh, and anyone who thinks the anarchists don’t have a point should look at what just happened in Minnesota. The people self-organised, without any outside direction, and responded effectively to resist an occupying force, and it was beautiful to see.

FYI, Cyberpunk 2077’s DLC is the best I’ve ever seen, and thoroughly worth paying for. Unlike quite a few others, as you mention. It makes everything in the base game better, and the additional story is even better than the story in the base game.

Damnit, you got me! I can’t remember. 😄

That’s fine, becoming an expert in the field is a fucking nightmare. Even the people who can stomach it need regular therapy to keep them from suffering too much trauma. I would not recommend it.

I do not see a lot of csam, I’m not in law enforcement or the legal arts. However, I’ve worked with people who do both, and there’s also plenty of literature on the subject. Studying the material itself is absolutely necessary to solve a lot of these crimes.

It’s not often the abusers directly showing their face, but that does happen more often than you think. Criminals are often dumb. But you can tell a lot from the backgrounds, or objects carelessly left in view, like newspapers or phones or food wrappers. Locations can be determined. If the child can be identified and it’s unclear who took the pictures, you can identify the people they were in contact with and use the photos to narrow down the search.

In this case, the photos were taken partly as blackmail material, so they are very useful to find the people guilty of the abuse, and prove their guilt.

Now, I am sure you would agree that what should happen is that the DOJ and the FBI should go over all this evidence, using all the resources they have available, the professional investigators, etc, which does not require releasing any pictures to the public. Any that do get released, to satisfy the public right to know, should be carefully redacted to protect identities of the victims, not show their bodies even if they cannot be identified, etc, because that is basic decency.

WE ARE WAY PAST FUCKING “SHOULD”.

The FBI and DOJ are dead. They are useless sacks of shit. They have been captured by the people who did the crime. There is now no alternative but to crowdsource the justice that has been denied by normal means. That means that the pictures should be released, with victims redacted, and abusers left visible, so the world can know who they are and exact what justice can be obtained by whatever means.

Yes, that’s not ideal. Ideal left the conversation years ago.

Often the abuser is in the photo. That’s led to the arrest of many a child abuser. The only reason that releasing the evidence in this case is necessary is that the people who we usually trust to look at the evidence and pursue the guilty party are not doing their fucking jobs.