@FrankCannon @ZonaPellucida I mean, maybe there was a way to push harder. But what I saw was the rule of law being used to undermine his whole enterprise.

He's a felon now. His network has been weakened. So many grifters surrounding him have faced massive legal consequences. All the checks and balances were put into effect.

But...somehow...everything that should matter to people making a choice about who should lead them no longer does. Democrats cannot be blamed for that.

@ZonaPellucida @FrankCannon Well, I mean this *is* politics now.

This is what giving someone like TFG (I hope I can keep using that acronym after Nov 6th) so much power does. It's no longer about policy-making, it's about how much he's allowed to directly interfere in individuals' lives.

He has no philosophical core. He has no restraint, no perspective, no plan. He only has the driving urge to be important. His importance will come at any cost.

He's supported by people who want that, too.

@FrankCannon @ZonaPellucida I think everything is on pause until the election results are in.

But in my estimation, the tensions have never been higher. TFG's supporters think they're the aggrieved ones. Indeed, they've turned that into their whole brand.

As a result, they've created a powder-keg I don't even think they're aware of. They're only listening to their own echo chambers.

But who TFG is promising positions of power to are profoundly dangerous. It's a truly horrific scenario.

@FrankCannon @ZonaPellucida You're right. He was given advantages, stays and even had things thrown out of court by partisan judges.

Appeals don't work -- the corruption goes all the way up to SCOTUS.

The only way to solve this would have been for Biden to grow and stack SCOTUS, which would have destabilised the country even more.

The blatant corruption on the republican side with election tampering, voter interference, and whatever the hell else Musk is doing will need a reckoning.

@FrankCannon @ZonaPellucida From my perspective, he has been hammered on every front. His J6 mob has been facing huge legal repercussions. He's been facing lawsuit after lawsuit, with convictions and sentences. We even know about the corruption and election tampering because it is being exposed in the media.

The Republican party has decided that TFG is its moral and ideological centre. There are no tools available in a democratic system to deal with that from within.

@tyghebright @lisaannlm @th3j35t3r "No-one knows who you vote for" is a meme for a reason.

Secret ballots are a cornerstone of democracy. This is why.

Anyone who laments polarisation and votes conservative is playing with cosmic levels of cognitive dissonance.

@CJLavoie As far as I can tell, mostly cigarettes.

In several of the photo portrait sites I follow, I've seen a sudden resurgence of photos showing people smoking.

It feels like that has to be symptomatic of something.

This is the season of whether I think I need my sunglasses or not, I'm wrong.

@AskTheDevil @redenigma "Here's your chance to live right on the water!"

@ITKV @tgraph52 This is a growing lament among Christian leaders -- they are being told by their congregations that the Bible's Jesus is too woke for them. Instead, they need a sneering, domineering Jesus.

Populist Christian supremacism invokes a hollowed-out power of "God," and applies it to suspiciously narrow-minded, self-serving objectives.

Trump is more important to many folks than their doctors, religious leaders, educators, and their own family.

He is the zenith of celebrity culture.

@corlin It reminds me of a piece I read years ago offering a psychologist's perspective on why obvious scams are still effective.

They are intended to be extreme to get the reasonably sceptical people out of the way early.

When this strategy hits a certain level of public momentum, the grift takes on a life of its own.

It is considered shameful to fall for a scam, so instead people lean into it, and perpetuate the scam on others to justify their own co-opted beliefs and values.

@TrueBloodNet Yeah, editing videos and even photos would push the cooling fans up to their limits.

But that's the load I expected a gaming computer to handle, because games also make computers work hard.

Sigh.

The solution I found was an older workstation class laptop that showed up in the classifieds. I pulled the storage and RAM out of my crumbling case, and I'm surprisingly happy with the results. 🙂

@TrueBloodNet I think the issue boils down to facing more heating and cooling cycles than the plastic was designed to withstand.

Everything became brittle.

Just picking it up to put in a bag, I could hear it creaking and eventually cracking.

Also, these experiences cover several well-known name brands.

I'm not naming them on purpose, but I'll just say that my own choice was from an established company with a strong reputation.

I should add that I'm pretty gentle with my gear -- it was not mistreated.

The gaming laptop segment is built to a price point, and it shows.

I have a solution if you're on a budget: buy a used workstation-class laptop. They're certainly more heavy and clunky, but they'll last for a good, long time.

Be wary of buying a gaming laptop for work stuff. I did that a few years back to get the computing power I needed to edit media at a reasonable price.

Gaming laptops are the epitome of planned obsolescence. They're intended for people who are on a steep, constant upgrade path.

The case literally crumbled to pieces, with plastic crumbs ending up in the cooling fans, and the other inner workings.

Listening to others, my experience is not unique.

@thewebrecluse I find would-be reviewers who quibble with a character's actions, or a plot point very strange.

The story is the story. Each of us is free to tell our own stories, and there are more channels than ever available to do that with.

It's beneficial to talk about our individual reactions to the story -- character, plot-line, theme, etc. Believability aside, wishing to change the story is a weird impulse.

Apprehending story grows our own understanding and develops our own character.

@peeppeepcircus No, that would truly suck.

Tesla's long-term situation is rocky at best, and the corporate culture is not compatible with what I've picked up from Aptera's

I remember Aptera from years ago -- I wish their prototype was already a product.

@ucantstop_me I don't think this can be ranked -- it's not more weird.

It's all so weird!

This just compounds the weirdness.

(edited)