I should have bought yacht manufacturer stock last week.
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I should have bought yacht manufacturer stock last week.
So, after getting covid, my wife developed hyposmia. That was bad enough, but, now she's preggers and the hyposmia has turned into a severe parosmia. The faintest whiff of coffee, meat products or car exhaust fumes registers as the most vile odor she's ever encountered, frequently making her want to hurl. My daughter developed a frustrating sensitivity to car smells earlier this summer, so I'm a bit worried her sense of smell may have been affected as well. Garbage diseaseQuote:
Originally Posted by Aimless
Yikes, that sounds terrible. Is this something that generally goes away by itself?
Eeep, sounds terrible.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aimless
But congratulations!
Congrats on baby #2 Aimless! :D Hope all goes well! :heart:
I'm bummed about so many things in the US lately...but when I have conversations with family members they respond with "Don't worry so much!" or "Stop focusing on the negative!" or "Well, what are you going to DO about it?"
It's that last one that really gets to me. Because I don't know what to DO about The Big Lie believers, the Election Deniers, the conspiracy theorists, Q-Anon cultists, the anti-gov't anti-vaxxer neo-fascists. Some of them are my neighbors! They've infiltrated local school boards with paranoia about CRT, transgender kids, "grooming" students for pedophiles, and they're banning books from the library. They fly confederate flags in front of their house and on their cars, one guy even spray painted "Let's Go Brandon" on his car and drives it around town. People honk and give him big thumbs up. Trump signs and Stop the Steal are everywhere, along with HUGE Mastriano and Dr. Oz signs. Lots of Don't Tread on Me flags and stickers, too. There's also a huge Evangelical Christian presence that dubs itself Pro-Life and favors a national abortion ban, no exceptions.
So they've infiltrated the Republican Party, something like 65% of registered (R) voters believe Trump won, Biden is illegitimate, the election was rigged/stolen. They're all about State's Rights but don't want to consider Civil Rights. They claim to be the party of Law & Order but don't give a hoot about a grifter-in-chief or an attempted coup. They've exploited people's fears for decades, hoodwinked them into voting against their interests, don't want no SSSocialized Medicine but Hands off my Medicare! etc etc etc
Now really, what am I supposed to DO about this shit, as an individual? I vote, I write my representatives, sometimes talk to their aides on the phone. I've attended school board meetings and vote there, too. Lately the environment has been so hostile -- and potentially dangerous -- that I don't want to DO much more. School board members and Election officials are being threatened and harassed, and quitting!
And ya know, when VOTE is the pat answer, but we have a closed primary system, and gerrymandered districts that allow the crazy minority to dominate the legislature, and they're hell bent on suppressing or intimidating voters....well, what TO DO, indeed.
:(
Vote. Signal to other people that it's ok to not be a Trumpist. Attend town hall meetings and make life difficult for local politicians if you have the energy. Call the offices of any politician from the area who's remotely persuadable. All these things will have a minimal impact, but minimal is better than nothing.
Yeah, fucking VOTE. And do everything you can to make sure every other like minded person you know votes. About 35% of America (holding ~50% of Congress) is right now pushing hard for, or just fine with, hamstringing democracy in America. So vote while your vote still means as much as it does.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
And where the hell is everybody? There have been remarkably few posts lately.
Elon Musk bought the place and is charging us $20 a month to post here.
It's now $8 a month and you get access to the dark theme.
It's the war.
For my own sanity, I have to limit how much exposure I get to the perversions of justice and shameless corruption going on to support the fascists trying to end democracy.Quote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
I don't think the moderating here is that bad...
I'm just waiting for more people to complain so the price drops even more.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Glint
To clarify you won't need to pay $8 to post, its just $8 for the blue checkmark + whatever additional benefits they want to roll out.
Thanks guys but I already said I VOTE plus other civic engagement and make calls to politicians. But the atmosphere has gotten so toxic with the loud mouth bullies (sometimes carrying guns) dominating and intimidating....it's scary. :(
I live in a red pocket close to the Mason-Dixon line and some of these folks would verbally harrass people wearing a mask during the height of Covid! I witnessed more than one physical fight during partial lockdowns over mask mandates. They're not rational or approachable, they're dangerous. What are we TO DO about that?
We had to trespass multiple people over the last couple of weeks for blasting trump speeches in our parking lot just outside the SOE 150FT boundary. The SOE and the sheriff didn't want to do anything unless pushed because they were so scared of these fucking morons. One lady who kept stopping traffic claimed that it's not on her if traffic back ups, it's up to the cars if they want to hit her or not.Quote:
Originally Posted by GGT
It's everywhere, huh. :( MAGA = Make America Grotesque Always
I voted. I can't help wondering if this is the 2nd to last "real" election we have in my life time. Stupid America is in the process right now of handing power at all levels to wanna-be fascists. And they'll do better with it in 2024 than they did in 2020. It's messing with my groove.
But CRT! And trans bathrooms! And socialism!
I thought election denial was always just fear mongering? That our voting process has quote "never been more secure." Right?Quote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
Voting is secure. But your party is working very hard to subvert elections so that no matter how people vote, your party still wins. Let me guess, that's all fake news, right? I'd call you a dumbass, but you're a white, straight, nominal-Christian male so you'll probably be fine in a fascist America. This just makes good sense to a guy who thinks murdering someone for stealing toothpaste is justice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewkowski
EDIT:
I know this isn't the right thread for this, but, since I started here, I'll wrap up here. In Michigan the state legislature flipped yesterday from a 40 year run of Republican control to Democratic control. I think this is directly related to the constitutional amendment we passed 2 elections ago taking the drawing of voter districts out of partisan hands and into an independent commission. With gerrymandering reduced (eliminated???), the legislature now looks more like the voters. Yay for democracy.
Also, looks like much of the country is turned off by the Trump extremists... of course the real work toward fascist America is being done at the level of those directly responsible for voting administration. We won't see how successful they are until next election when Trump declares victory no matter what and the red legislatures in swing states move to overturn their state's election results in his favor.
Having evaded it for two and a half years, and the case numbers here being rather low and on the decline, I somehow managed to catch covid. I now have to self-isolate until the end of the next week, which, coincidentally, is also the last day of my and my fiancee's vacation. :sour:
My team and I are at risk of redundancy. This is my second time leading a team through restructuring this year, with different employers.
Oh, shitQuote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
Well then nessus has not drunk themselves to death, color me surprised.
It's a race, isn't it? But it aligns with the general anxiety over death; so long as you hang on, I might be gone!
Man, that's rough. Hope it works out all right for you and that you can relax a little soon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Unheard Of
Another bomb in Istanbul. About 400 meters from my house there and audible from the place where I was having a cup of coffee. 6 deaths 81 wounded. I wish I could unsee the pictures of the aftermath. Istiklal may be a tourist destination, but for many of us it's also the village main street. That suddenly feels very unsafe.
Thanks. I'll be OK - my wife and I both have good jobs and low fixed costs. Biggest risk is that I get laid off and act like a sailor on shore leave with 4 months pay.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aimless