No no no, States Rights was never about owning people.
The CSA constitution outright said states couldn't make laws stopping people from owning people.
States Rights came up post LBJ with the Republican Southern Strategy to tell all the former dixiecrats 'You should vote for us because the national government took away your states rights to legally be racist shitbags'
I'm in the US. Fucking make it hurt. Maybe it'll make the shitstains finally learn, or at least kill off enough that this shit won't be a worry in the near figure.
Is it gonna suck for me? Yup. But it is anyways, so instead of the frog in the pot lets flambe this shit.
Dunno, I remember those days.
I remember commenting how we were a pretzel away from President Cheney...
Then again I remember Cheney being the "He picked him as a running mate to be a body shield because I'd take a bullet for W just to stop that from happening." Unfortunately now we're in the era where Cheney is the sensible politician (I threw up in my mouth a little when I just typed that last bit)
I'm sorry you're getting the thoughts you didn't vote, but I'll admit I'm very much in the "Enjoy the collapse, losers!" territory so at least I'll express mine, hopefully it helps make sense, and honestly, I appreciate your feeling to try to do better. If you figure out a way to move forward, fantastic. I just remember the top post of a comment when Trump won however and it so truly fits, "I'm tired, boss."
I have been fighting to get people to vote for years, trying to keep them involved. Not trying to get to vote every 4 years, but every year, local stuff, this shit is important, people need to stay up on it. I'm considered a news hound amongst people I know... I listen to the morning news on the 30 minute commute to work, that's how much time I put in to the news, that's it. It's not hard. Some days I say fuck it and listen to an audiobook.
People I've known who vote R, lets be honest, they went through the last Trump era and learned nothing. I remember back in the W. era people saying it should be illegal to speak against the president, who turned around and called Obama a muslim who should be deported. End of Trump era I knew republicans who were just starting to get it, maybe healthcare is fucked, maybe a lot of big corpo things are the problem... but immediately turned around and jumped right back in to Trumps circle the moment it came around "I couldn't just vote for Kamala" just like "I just couldn't vote for Hillary" and so on. Hell my state voted to repeal the strictest abortion ban and make abortion legal in the state, but still voted pretty much straight R despite a history of the party overturning ballot initiatives "Because the voters didn't know what they were voting for." So yes... after years of this, there's the tribal "If you're republican, you can go fuck yourself with a pineapple" especially as this collapse is coming.
On the non-voters. I'm sorry, I consider them just as culpable. In 2016 at least Trump was a... well anyone who paid fifteen minutes of attention knew what he was about but fuck it, I'll give the people who said "Fuck it lets try something new" a bit of a pass. This time, there were no surprises on the table. You had Kamala, which yes was about as dead standard democrat as you got, and you got Project 2025 Trump back with a vengeance. Those that say "I didn't vote for Trump" but by doing so stayed home gave their voice to "meh" and whatever happens they agreed to it. People I directly know who were in this, I know of one at least in a gay marriage, a few hispanic workers, and a trans individual, all who were "I'm just not interested in politics." Well, suddenly they're REALLY interested in politics. And many wanting to "rise up", well I'm not going to trust someone who couldn't be faffed to even do the basic fucking minimum to try to prevent things to watch my back when shit hits the fan.
So yes, we're all hosed and anyone who didn't see it coming had their heads so far up their own asses in the past 8 years they've proven they can't be taught. I'm sitting in the fire too, I'm not going to like the collapse. But after years of the fighting and still witnessing the apathy, my empathy is dead. The tribalism is useful, these were the people who were willing to do the basic minimum to resist, so maybe we can actually help each other. I'll help them as I can. The others I expressed about, no, I don't want bad to happen... but at least the schadenfreude can be a little bit of light through some very dark times coming. Don't weep for the stupid, you'll be crying all day.
I'm sorry, might be jaded but what you're saying about welcoming anyone who wants to add to resistance was how I was in 2020.
And I watched the same idiots where were complaining about his policies in 2019 go vote for him again this time.
They'll be mad to get people to accept them right up until the choices come back then goosestep in party line again. Fuck em.
Work in medical too, but work in the lower sections with the blue collar workers while living in the bible belt. They're all Trump fans and think this is all great.
The best advice I have is find your people, the ones you know who've been against this (not the non-voters, they folded to apathy, and will fold when the going gets tough) and start working on survival plans. Gardens, mutual aid, mutual defense, how to hide those in danger ESPECIALLY if you're the cishet white guy. Build the community as best you can.
This is not some big overall "Fight the bastions to overthrow" but right now as a regular schmuck in the middle of nowhere, right now this is what we have.
Those that don't think spiders are cute hasn't seen a jumping spider wearing a water droplet like a jaunty hat.
Screw it. If I had limitless wealth time to see if ending homelessness is possible with every bit of it I can.
What I want for me is a stable living situation, fun times on a motorcycle, and time to do hobbies without killing myself at work and to travel. My secondaries are those things for the people I care about. Other than the killing myself at work, that sort of thing is obtainable without being a millionaire.
So after that, throwing billions into building affordable housing seems like the plan, combat these scalpers that overdo rent and see if I could beat the countries, then the worlds goal of "stable living situation". After that... figure out what's next.
Okay, I have a soft spot for Legally Blonde thanks to a civics teacher who said it did a better job in talking law than many procedural law movies. Now I wanna go watch it again, thanks for reminding me it's out there!
I think frankly the thing that Barbie did that's worldbreaking in the territory of these movies was not in the movie itself which is fascinating to me. I don't have cable so dunno advertising there, but Oppenheimer coming out at the same time, no ads, just a few movie previews, the biggest ads were all the interviews with the cast. Barbie... could not get away from it, the ads were everywhere. So my thoughts were "okay, Mattel is definitely backing this." Then I started hearing people talk about it and it was honestly surprising that Mattel was backing as well as it did, but okay, then when watching the movie that was the part that ended up shocking me.
I'm so used to executive meddling in movies, studios being cautious and companies being overprotective of their IPs that has ruined so many movies, that here was Mattel allowing themselves to be portrayed as definitely the bad guys, still their logo plastered all over VERY up front. I realize they got good advertising with the movie but I'm trying to remember another movie that the parent company backed while being made fun of this strong and the only one I can think of is Deadpool 3 and honestly that was easy because trying to tone it back would have lost fans, this had all the opportunity to not go over well.
Y'know... maybe I'm losing some of the magic in my older age but I wonder, since the internet became ubiquitous we almost got rid of secret clubs to gathering as many people as possible on a stage.
Now I know the Masonic Lodge is the number one we think of, with their secret rituals and the like. But I was in another in scouts, Order of the Arrow, that you had to be voted in by your troop, had their secret rituals, etc. Why secret rituals? Because being in a secret club is fun! Knowing things that others don't is fun! Are the rituals little small things that once people learn them are "meh?" Sure! But it's fun during that time.
Now since I don't have kids can't speak to young kids today, but lord only knows before that how many "Secret clubs" I was in throughout my life growing up in school. Now by secret club I mean, group of us would get together, have a club, secret handshake that would be forgotten by the next week, fall apart then a new one form in like a month when "Do you know what would be awesome? If we had a secret club! One with a clubhouse! Yea!"
The Masonic Lodge, Fraternal Order of the Eagles, and all these others were basically clubs where everyone hung out and bullshitted, then of course when they're gathered they get pissed off about some social thing or another and then it becomes a movement. Shriners were apparently a drinking club that was "We should help kids!" and made a full non-profit hospital system in the long run... the main reason on helping kids, because if a bunch of chucklefucks are gonna get around and drink they figured they should do something.
But I've heard the Masonic Lodge is dying from lack of memberships going in, no one really cares on a lot of the secret societies, and hell I don't think the trope of kids having their "secret clubs" has been a thing in the last decade in media. I wonder if this is something we're losing as a culture. It'll never quite go away, as long as there's a group of people that wants to go "ours" it'll happen, but it's an interesting thing to see.
The man did more after his presidency to help people than many do their entire lives. One can agree or disagree on his policies as a president, but he kept working with his own two hands to help people almost all the way to the very end. It says a lot that I recognize that about him far more than his legacy as President.
Fucking hell, I'm supporting Nestle on a situation?
I want off this fucking roller coaster.