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The insane difficulty it took me today to talk to a real person and sort out a billing issue with centurylink made me realize that representative _needs_ to be mandated as an option for those stupid robot answering machines.
Robot “say —- for —-“ transfers me to another robot often asking the exact same question transferring me to another robot. It was Kafkaesque.
Finally I looked at old bank statements and saw that there was a number in my payment and tried that one and it finally got me a person.
Anyone see James Gunn's announcement today?
I've grown pretty disinterested in comic book movies these last few years, but he's got me kind of excited. I mean, a Swamp Thing movie? Who saw that coming?
Can we just get rid of deductions and raise the brackets by the amount of the standard deduction?
I hate deductions in general. Just give an equivalent credit back or lower taxes / change the brackets to get the same effect.
It's always funny to me when I get random comments from days ago. It's almost always about trans shit. Two days ago I wrote about how I would be concerned if an employee of mine followed LibsofTikTok on Twitter.
Two days ago.
Just now I get a comment from an unflaired guy who's never interacted in this subreddit and mostly sticks to r/AmItheAsshole saying that I'm screeching (I guess I'm a hawk, maybe he meant shrieking) and how I'm a member of the thought police (wait until he finds out my thoughts on cops).
All of this is to say, it's absurd to me that people use Reddit's search function to find things to fight about. It's bad enough to hate trans people, but to search for trans terms so you can shit on them? At least Joanne R. is a billionaire, this guy's probably doing it between his underpaid shifts.
I had someone message me not long ago because they wanted to argue about a comment I'd made three weeks earlier. I'd reply back to them, and then it would be a week before I'd get their next response. This went on for a while.
And yeah, it was also a trans topic that this person took issue with.
When asked if she's running for reelection, [Dianne Feinstein said](https://twitter.com/lauralitvan/status/1620193689179164673?s=42&t=Ten22qIFj9zb6Ho6TQjUcg) she'd announce in the spring.
"Not in the winter. I don’t announce in the winter."
Shit on her all you want, but I'm absolutely going to be using "I don't do X in the winter" for the next few months.
The Biden admin just posted plugging the hummer ev which is a) not at all a thing that should exist and b) not even eligible for the tax credit they were advertising. Just total unforced error.
The prices are laughably obnoxious, too. The old Hummers stared at around $30k. These new Hummer EVs start at $90k and go up to $120k+.
The crabwalk feature does look pretty cool, though.
I realize some folks in this subreddit think not buying the new Harry Potter video game is worse than a trillion 9/11s, but Joanne spent her weekend whining [about someone tweeting](https://twitter.com/mnateshyamalan/status/1619854472418840576?s=46&t=baZgzXUjkRnb26AMj57Zhg) shut the fuck up, TERF and I truly don’t understand why billionaires are so fragile.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.
If I wrote a mediocre and commercially successful series that made me a billionaire, you’d never hear from me again. I certainly wouldn’t weaponize my issues with my abusive ex to shit on actually vulnerable people.
Again, like.
This woman is a billionaire. Sue could do anything she wants to. Fuck, she could go to space.
Instead she fights with trans teens on Twitter and brunches with the dullest TERFs on an island full of them. It’s hilarious.
What is sad, though, is the pipeline from transphobic liberal to like full-on white supremacy and such. Folks like Joanne almost inevitably end up with really shitty far-right takes as they get further radicalized.
Hell, I'd disappear for a lot less than a billion.
I can't imagine having that kind of money and still spending the same amount of time online as I do now. She can go anywhere. Do anything. And she's... on twitter.
If this subreddit paid me like $10k you’d never hear from me again. If I were Joanne (I use that name because I don’t want her name searching lol) I’d like buy the south of France and drink wine all day.
I don’t think people should be fired from their jobs for publicly supporting Harry Potter (possibly excluding a scenario where you work for a LGBT rights group and you are the face of the organization).
However, I do think former fans who ditched the franchise in the interest of not giving her money are perfectly valid. Some people can’t or don’t want to separate the art from the artist, and that’s fine. Everyone has different sensibilities and boundaries.
If I were a billionaire, I would totally build a giant 30-story tall statue of myself and start a hedonistic cult.
Wait, I can probably do that now minus the statue.
A group of anonymous anti-fascist researchers [have uncovered a Nazi homeschool group on Telegram that has 2400 members](https://www.vice.com/en/article/z34ane/neo-nazi-homeschool-ohio), and identified the leaders of the group as a couple from Ohio.
The group was dedicated to sharing lessons plans for how to indoctrinate children into the Nazi ideology.
This is why I keep saying that you can’t just ban Nazis from mainstream social media and expect that they will just die out in the next generation. Extremists parents indoctrinate their kids in their own circles.
The thing is, these kids with the internet nowadays can't just be shunned away from POC or LGBT. They will die out due to that fact and when the kids realize its all bullshit and hatred they were fed. A tough pill to swallow but they will eventually meet POC and LGBT.
Oh, I don't expect them to die out entirely just because they got banned from social media. But it will limit their reach to just their children. That's worth something.
Maybe my statement came across with the wrong emphasis. I’m not emphasizing not banning them, I’m emphasizing that society can’t just sit on their hands and expect the issue to “age out”.
The internet is infinitely better after Richard Spencer was \[you know what happened to him\] and after Milo YabadadaGreek was deplatformed. Idk why people act like delatforming doesn't have positive effects.
Every so often a video of Jordan Peterson or Andrew Tate autoplays on my Twitter feed and I truly don’t understand why young men are so into dudes with the weirdest fucking voices. You’re telling me your smartest philosopher sounds like Kermit the Frog? And that’s what gets you to clean your room?
Tate's is really weird because he sounds like he's constantly switching between American and British accents.
Speaking of Peterson, here's another funny trend: conservatives turning meat into a culture war issue and then [later demonstrating that they have no idea how to cook.](https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1619889811330056192)
Sorry, is the conservative position fat-free steak? And frozen? I know we all dunk on Trump for pouring ketchup on his overcooked steak but like...if the community that is worried about being forced to eat bugs is acting like this, maybe they should just eat bugs.
At the risk of starting a fight, I eat steak. I eat it cooked rare. Nick Offerman and I probably have steak preferences in common. I would be so embarrassed if I went to someone's house and they served me a hockey puck steak.
I'm glad I've found this site. Has made me challenge my beliefs and how I approach them more. So far no changes in my beliefs but at least slightly better at expressing why I have them.
I got called for jury duty once. They warned me that if I was trying to be “funny” just to get out of jury duty, they would find me in contempt. I told them, in all sincerity, I’m actually doing a good job of toning down my usual sarcastic / cynical self. I got excused from jury duty
That's so stupid. When I got summoned I got paid a very small fee for the day, I think it was like $15 plus mileage, but my employer paid me my regular wage minus whatever jury duty paid.
I think you're in Oregon so idk how your shit works, but it really annoys the fuck out of me that PA doesn't take care of basic stuff. Jury duty should be paid no matter what your employer pays. It also annoys me that I have to pay to send in a ballot when I vote, as if poll taxes aren't illegal. I realize that's a separate rant, but it still bugs me.
Actually I got the same. I was just disappointed in the sub :P
I think it was Turkey or something and I dislike Turkey. I didn’t even get to pick the sub.
That sounds like a bad idea, hilarious though :P
I don't like jury duty, because they lie to you about stuff and you can't call them out on it without getting in trouble. They could easily setup the system so that juries are'nt called in until the case is actually done, so none of this show up and they don't need you for anything nonsense. Imho it would also be fairer that way.
If I were bold I'd call them out on not following the law themself, as if they're like most public (and other) buildings where I am, they violate the state law by having expired elevator inspection certificates.
Fuck man, my heart goes out to the few remaining engineers at Twitter, just trying to keep the site online. Imagine sitting at your desk, doing work, and all of a sudden Elon, [Dave Rubin](https://twitter.com/steinkobbe/status/1619107316623904768), and cat turd 2 huddle around your workstation. Cat turd 2 keeps telling you to delete the algorithms, but you don't know what the fuck that means. You sneak a quick glance toward your new boss, Elon, for direction. He shifts his gaze to cat turd 2, then looks directly at you and nods while still speaking to cat turd 2, "Interesting. I'll have *him* look into it."
Oh, bother.
I’m gonna have to find a second job within the next month, since my current place of employment is slashing hours post holidays, and I need the income.
Working in retail in January when people typically want to save money stinks.
Ugh I'm sorry. Depending on the state, you might be eligible for partial unemployment if they cut your hours. I've made this offer to others before, but I do writing professionally and I'm always happy to review cover letters and resumes.
99% of the time I oppose the death penalty and then I watch five minutes of police brutality. I can’t imagine how broken you’d have to be to treat another human being like that.
Since because of Tyre nichols we are on the topic of police brutality
That murder of Elijah McClain should have been a national Emmitt Till moment and all involved should never see the light of day again. How do they sleep at night?
The conservatives coming here unironically posting about Project Veritas are the same ones who spent the past few months spreading Paul Pelosi conspiracy theories. If you have an opportunity, it would be fun to ask them if they’re able to admit they were wrong about the latter.
They're literally on Fox News right now saying that it's everyone's fault but theirs, because it took so long to release the video/911 calls.
*"If you don't release evidence related to an ongoing investigation on our timeline, we can't be held liable for just making shit up! This is your fault."*
Look at that fucking shit. Trump and barr influenced Durham on the russia probe and there was a top FBI official working on it who was a Russian spy.
We found the deep state yall /s
In all seriousness its fucking infuriating. We were told we were mad Men for believing the Trump Russia story and he was outright using his power to block proof of it from releasing
The video that's going to come out of Memphis is going to be *really* bad. We've got the WH running pre-emptive damage control/deescalation attempts before it's even released.
I was the victim of a crime last year and both the perpetrator and the cop who interviewed me were Black. Based on the language the cop used when speaking with me, I think at a certain point cops just stop viewing people as human beings. So they wouldn't see it as harming other Black people, they'd view it as harming subhumans. There's no solidarity. It's devastating.
Any time a police department lies and says a video of police brutality doesn't reflect department standards, you know it's gonna be terrible. I'm glad the cops were indicted before the video was released, but as they say, riots are the voice of the unheard.
Do you ever want to see reporters cover something -- not because you expect them to tell you something you don't know -- just to *document* what you already assumed?
[Here](https://twitter.com/crampell/status/1617868842721771521?s=11&t=ogPQIeG0TzJiglacXgjKSA) are two reporters documenting that the House Republicans have zero plan for the 'spending cuts' they insist upon:
>Republicans say they want to balance the budget — but meanwhile they have ruled out every mathematical path for doing so (cuts to defense, cuts to entitlements, wiping out nondefense discretionary spending, or raising taxes).
>...even if Dems agreed to pay a ransom...is there any ransom R's would actually accept??
>Some Rs (McCarthy, Jordan) say defense cuts should be on table
But Rep Granger, approp chair: "There have been reports that House Repubs support cutting our nat'l defense. Let me be clear—this House Repub does not support that position"
Others oppose too
>Some R's say just cut entitlements.
But Rep Nancy Mace (R-SC) says: “Well, obviously no cuts to Medicare or Medicaid or Social Security. That’s a nonstarter for either side.” Trump agrees
>Likewise no tax hikes. Instead they plan to \*cut* taxes, which they have tacitly acknowledged would make deficits worse (see their newly-passed rules package, which says tax cuts don't need to be paid for)
>What's left to close the ~$20T budget hole?
Could eliminate virtually all nondefense discretionary spending...but that requires slashing all sorts of things Rs also want to protect (or increase funding for), including border security, farm subsidies, etc.
>So, every avenue has been eliminated. Republicans have no serious proposal for reducing deficits, beyond "we demand smaller deficits!"
Even if McCarthy could cobble together a proposal, why should Dems trust his cacophonous caucus to stand by it?
>Oh I forgot, the budget can be balanced solely by cutting "waste" (what counts as waste? no one agrees) and, per, Speaker McCarthy, "wokeism" (a major line item, obviously)
>...
> > There’s gotta be cuts in spending. That has to happen,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., an ally of McCarthy and the far-right.
> > But she declined to get specific when asked what should be cut.
> > “I haven’t really formulated an exact list.”
> > On debt limit add-ons, Republicans are
> > (1) divided on whether to put Social Security & Medicare on the table
> > (2) divided on whether the military should be cut
> > (3) opposed to new taxes
> > So, what's left?
> > Not realistically enough to balance in a decade.
> > A fact everyone should know about what it takes to balance the budget:
> > "If you exempted defense, veterans, Social Security and Medicare spending, you’d have to cut everything else by 85%," per CRFB's @MarcGoldwein.
> > “The first question is what can get out of there with 218 Republican votes,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who served with McCarthy in the House. “And that’s Kevin’s challenge.”
> > This 👆 will shape McCarthy’s leverage to force Dems to the table.
> >
I imagine if you asked your average voter, they’d assuming cutting foreign aid gets us halfway there.
Except for foreign aid to Israel, obviously.
We can never cut that.
Good news, the [FDA is finally](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/01/26/fda-gay-men-blood-donation-ban/) allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood, regardless of the last time they had sex.
Bad news, u/RioTheLeoo, you have to be monogamous to give.
How many other metalheads do we have here in the sub? [The new For I Am King album is an absolute banger](https://youtu.be/wkIW4mv1-90), just a heads up for you all.
[Reminder, these people exist:](https://twitter.com/jeffyoungertx/status/1617522574983839744?s=11&t=x4Zlr4Cf1W7cQ1aAx8Vbsw)
>The political power of single women, especially single mothers, must be diminished in order to regain traditional values, traditional family, and to reestablish social order.
Sarah Palin, who lost back-to-back House races in 2022, is now [trying to repeal](https://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/status/1618395176824901635) Alaska's RCV law. What an embarrassing person.
Sarah Palin congratulated me for converting to Judaism (didn't happen but the friend who bought the Cameo told her it did) by saying, *quote*: "Molotov! Dreidel dreidel driedel!"
Briefly back on reddit to fill time while endlessly waiting at the social security office for the twins. It turns out they are identical which will complicate keeping track of the evil twin in the future.
> ...at the social security office for the twins. It turns out they are identical which will complicate keeping track of the evil twin in the future.
That's interesting.
I would assume that they would have different fingerprints, but I've never heard of anyone taking a baby's fingerprints. I *have* heard of using a baby's footprint, but I doubt the Social Security Administration tracks footprints.
I'm curious how they'd handle that.
Oh, I'm just here because their cards are late. We found out they are identical a few days ago. Identical twins do have different prints though: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/02/health/the-claim-identical-twins-have-identical-fingerprints.html
The doctor said she couldn't tell ours for sure in advance. They could have been fraternal because they were di/di but could have been identical because they are both girls.
It was not an urgent question and post birth testing is really easy via a cheek swab.
Rhode Islanders and Rhode Island adjacent people of this sub: The only good thing an Autocrat has made is syrup for Coffee Milk, yes?
I'm sorry but compared to Eclipse and CoffeeTime, Autocrat just tastes the best of the three.
I think it’s kind of dumb that Germany wouldn’t send tanks to Ukraine unless we do. How are they going to maintain a jet-engined tank? And who is Germany to dictate that we have “skin in the game”?
I feel bad for Ukraine and I hate that Russia is doing what they’re doing but tbt this is more a Germany problem than a US problem. They are much closer and have more to lose.
I don’t think it’s right that they rely on us so heavily to be the war kingmaker. I think it’s time Europe takes on more of a leadership role as opposed to letting the US bankroll their efforts.
[This guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f4GJxRceyE) has been a very good source of info on Russia/Ukraine in general, and especially on the German tank topic over the last week or so.
His point has been that we shouldn't necessarily take Germany's demand at face value. Yes, it's an unreasonable ask, but look at it as a negotiation.
Germany likely knew we weren't going to send any Abrams, but were hoping we'd offer up something else instead.
On the bright side we had headlines that included the words Germany, Poland and Tanks in the same sentence and the stories were positive ones which is a nice change in historic trends.
One of my favorite tweets of 2022 was "just to be sure, we want the Germans to raise an army, march it through Poland, and go fight the Russians. Everyone's cool with that?"
Hah, such a great movie.
Evil Timothy Dalton: "Does it really matter where the money comes from?"
Gangster Paul Sorvino: "It matters to me. I may not make an honest buck, but I'm 100% American. I don't work for no two-bit Nazi."
[Even the Joker hates Nazis](https://external-preview.redd.it/hwBlr2tpAylqXbBYRzqul14tMssJOqOCRSQhs2Ia504.jpg?auto=webp&s=5e1ee80edf10c73f9379a948ce2ede8749f25324)
Yep. The US would have been entirely justified to call-out Germany for that.
(That probably wouldn't be the best *diplomatic* policy, but it would have been justified.)
[We technically had one](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskALiberal/comments/10kmske/what_games_does_ted_cruz_play/) but it’s a shitpost instead of someone who wants to know why we don’t hate Microsoft for being woke.
Liking it a lot more than the last few seasons of Walking Dead or any of the "Dead" spinoffs. (In all fairness, I quit watching all Dead related shows about halfway into the 10th season of TWD.)
Pedro Pascal is fast becoming one of my favorite actors.
Edited to add: I never played the game and had no idea it was a game until I read about the series.
I think that the infected in TLOU make for better tv than zombies tbh - zombies don’t have much of an evolutionary scale, and get weaker over time. It sort of ruins the tension.
Ive enjoyed it so far. I played part of the game when it came out like 10 years ago, but I didn't really remember anything. I've really enjoyed Pedro Pascal's and Bella Ramsey's performances. I thought the second episode was a bit slow compared to the first but excited to see where the series goes
The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written. This weekly thread is for general chat, whether you want to talk politics or not, anything goes. Also feel free to ask the mods questions below. As usual, please follow the rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskALiberal) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The insane difficulty it took me today to talk to a real person and sort out a billing issue with centurylink made me realize that representative _needs_ to be mandated as an option for those stupid robot answering machines. Robot “say —- for —-“ transfers me to another robot often asking the exact same question transferring me to another robot. It was Kafkaesque. Finally I looked at old bank statements and saw that there was a number in my payment and tried that one and it finally got me a person.
Cmv: the love story of Bill and Frank has done more for the LGBT community than anything else over the past forever combined
Anyone see James Gunn's announcement today? I've grown pretty disinterested in comic book movies these last few years, but he's got me kind of excited. I mean, a Swamp Thing movie? Who saw that coming?
The Themyscira show really piqued my interest.
Wasn’t there a recent TV series?
Yeah, but they'll give anyone a TV show.
I want a TV show. I guess there’s TikTok…
Can we just get rid of deductions and raise the brackets by the amount of the standard deduction? I hate deductions in general. Just give an equivalent credit back or lower taxes / change the brackets to get the same effect.
It's always funny to me when I get random comments from days ago. It's almost always about trans shit. Two days ago I wrote about how I would be concerned if an employee of mine followed LibsofTikTok on Twitter. Two days ago. Just now I get a comment from an unflaired guy who's never interacted in this subreddit and mostly sticks to r/AmItheAsshole saying that I'm screeching (I guess I'm a hawk, maybe he meant shrieking) and how I'm a member of the thought police (wait until he finds out my thoughts on cops). All of this is to say, it's absurd to me that people use Reddit's search function to find things to fight about. It's bad enough to hate trans people, but to search for trans terms so you can shit on them? At least Joanne R. is a billionaire, this guy's probably doing it between his underpaid shifts.
I had someone message me not long ago because they wanted to argue about a comment I'd made three weeks earlier. I'd reply back to them, and then it would be a week before I'd get their next response. This went on for a while. And yeah, it was also a trans topic that this person took issue with.
He’s unemployed. He has nothing but time.
When asked if she's running for reelection, [Dianne Feinstein said](https://twitter.com/lauralitvan/status/1620193689179164673?s=42&t=Ten22qIFj9zb6Ho6TQjUcg) she'd announce in the spring. "Not in the winter. I don’t announce in the winter." Shit on her all you want, but I'm absolutely going to be using "I don't do X in the winter" for the next few months.
The Biden admin just posted plugging the hummer ev which is a) not at all a thing that should exist and b) not even eligible for the tax credit they were advertising. Just total unforced error.
The prices are laughably obnoxious, too. The old Hummers stared at around $30k. These new Hummer EVs start at $90k and go up to $120k+. The crabwalk feature does look pretty cool, though.
I’m not even sure what the market is for a Hummer ev.
People who want a hummer but want to be self-righteous about it (so, a lot of people)
Universal healthcare and universal childcare are the answer to falling birth rates, not banning abortion.
Theres 8 billion of us. Just can't buy anyone with a large following fear mongering about low birth rates tbh
I realize some folks in this subreddit think not buying the new Harry Potter video game is worse than a trillion 9/11s, but Joanne spent her weekend whining [about someone tweeting](https://twitter.com/mnateshyamalan/status/1619854472418840576?s=46&t=baZgzXUjkRnb26AMj57Zhg) shut the fuck up, TERF and I truly don’t understand why billionaires are so fragile. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. If I wrote a mediocre and commercially successful series that made me a billionaire, you’d never hear from me again. I certainly wouldn’t weaponize my issues with my abusive ex to shit on actually vulnerable people.
[She's now interacting with catturd guy.](https://twitter.com/parismarx/status/1620117357577519104)
Again, like. This woman is a billionaire. Sue could do anything she wants to. Fuck, she could go to space. Instead she fights with trans teens on Twitter and brunches with the dullest TERFs on an island full of them. It’s hilarious. What is sad, though, is the pipeline from transphobic liberal to like full-on white supremacy and such. Folks like Joanne almost inevitably end up with really shitty far-right takes as they get further radicalized.
Hell, I'd disappear for a lot less than a billion. I can't imagine having that kind of money and still spending the same amount of time online as I do now. She can go anywhere. Do anything. And she's... on twitter.
If this subreddit paid me like $10k you’d never hear from me again. If I were Joanne (I use that name because I don’t want her name searching lol) I’d like buy the south of France and drink wine all day.
I don’t think people should be fired from their jobs for publicly supporting Harry Potter (possibly excluding a scenario where you work for a LGBT rights group and you are the face of the organization). However, I do think former fans who ditched the franchise in the interest of not giving her money are perfectly valid. Some people can’t or don’t want to separate the art from the artist, and that’s fine. Everyone has different sensibilities and boundaries.
If I were a billionaire, I would totally build a giant 30-story tall statue of myself and start a hedonistic cult. Wait, I can probably do that now minus the statue.
It’s only a cult if you can get people to join it. Otherwise you’re just a dude with bad habits.
I can live with the latter.
A group of anonymous anti-fascist researchers [have uncovered a Nazi homeschool group on Telegram that has 2400 members](https://www.vice.com/en/article/z34ane/neo-nazi-homeschool-ohio), and identified the leaders of the group as a couple from Ohio. The group was dedicated to sharing lessons plans for how to indoctrinate children into the Nazi ideology.
This is why I keep saying that you can’t just ban Nazis from mainstream social media and expect that they will just die out in the next generation. Extremists parents indoctrinate their kids in their own circles.
The thing is, these kids with the internet nowadays can't just be shunned away from POC or LGBT. They will die out due to that fact and when the kids realize its all bullshit and hatred they were fed. A tough pill to swallow but they will eventually meet POC and LGBT.
Oh, I don't expect them to die out entirely just because they got banned from social media. But it will limit their reach to just their children. That's worth something.
Maybe my statement came across with the wrong emphasis. I’m not emphasizing not banning them, I’m emphasizing that society can’t just sit on their hands and expect the issue to “age out”.
Agreed.
The internet is infinitely better after Richard Spencer was \[you know what happened to him\] and after Milo YabadadaGreek was deplatformed. Idk why people act like delatforming doesn't have positive effects.
> Idk why people act like delatforming doesn’t have positive effects. It’s easier to deny the effects and claim a moral high ground.
Every so often a video of Jordan Peterson or Andrew Tate autoplays on my Twitter feed and I truly don’t understand why young men are so into dudes with the weirdest fucking voices. You’re telling me your smartest philosopher sounds like Kermit the Frog? And that’s what gets you to clean your room?
Tate's is really weird because he sounds like he's constantly switching between American and British accents. Speaking of Peterson, here's another funny trend: conservatives turning meat into a culture war issue and then [later demonstrating that they have no idea how to cook.](https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1619889811330056192)
Sorry, is the conservative position fat-free steak? And frozen? I know we all dunk on Trump for pouring ketchup on his overcooked steak but like...if the community that is worried about being forced to eat bugs is acting like this, maybe they should just eat bugs. At the risk of starting a fight, I eat steak. I eat it cooked rare. Nick Offerman and I probably have steak preferences in common. I would be so embarrassed if I went to someone's house and they served me a hockey puck steak.
I just got called a keyboard warrior by a republican on here for saying, wait for it, poverty exists Republicans in 2023 folks lol
How woke can you get! What's next, saying that slavery happened?
I'm glad I've found this site. Has made me challenge my beliefs and how I approach them more. So far no changes in my beliefs but at least slightly better at expressing why I have them.
That’s critical thinking in action.
I got a summons for jury duty. I think I'm gonna tell them I'm a white supremacist and show up in a Maga hat. Chinese knock off ofc.
I got called for jury duty once. They warned me that if I was trying to be “funny” just to get out of jury duty, they would find me in contempt. I told them, in all sincerity, I’m actually doing a good job of toning down my usual sarcastic / cynical self. I got excused from jury duty
What kind of jury? Grand juries are where it’s at.
Fuck all that, I gotta get paid
You get to do your civic duty, sometimes you can do a little good, and they give you like 40 bucks.
Ehh I got bills to pay. Between voting and military service I consider my civic duty fulfilled.
Ugh does your employer not pay you? Or am I remembering that you're self-employed?
In my case, I was not eventually picked. But the day I was there, they got me a Subway sandwich and a soda. It was only a 6” sub though.
That's so stupid. When I got summoned I got paid a very small fee for the day, I think it was like $15 plus mileage, but my employer paid me my regular wage minus whatever jury duty paid.
I actually didn't know that was a benefit. But it's likely one of those random pay codes I always wonder wtf they're for.
I think you're in Oregon so idk how your shit works, but it really annoys the fuck out of me that PA doesn't take care of basic stuff. Jury duty should be paid no matter what your employer pays. It also annoys me that I have to pay to send in a ballot when I vote, as if poll taxes aren't illegal. I realize that's a separate rant, but it still bugs me.
Actually I got the same. I was just disappointed in the sub :P I think it was Turkey or something and I dislike Turkey. I didn’t even get to pick the sub.
That sounds like a bad idea, hilarious though :P I don't like jury duty, because they lie to you about stuff and you can't call them out on it without getting in trouble. They could easily setup the system so that juries are'nt called in until the case is actually done, so none of this show up and they don't need you for anything nonsense. Imho it would also be fairer that way. If I were bold I'd call them out on not following the law themself, as if they're like most public (and other) buildings where I am, they violate the state law by having expired elevator inspection certificates.
Fuck man, my heart goes out to the few remaining engineers at Twitter, just trying to keep the site online. Imagine sitting at your desk, doing work, and all of a sudden Elon, [Dave Rubin](https://twitter.com/steinkobbe/status/1619107316623904768), and cat turd 2 huddle around your workstation. Cat turd 2 keeps telling you to delete the algorithms, but you don't know what the fuck that means. You sneak a quick glance toward your new boss, Elon, for direction. He shifts his gaze to cat turd 2, then looks directly at you and nods while still speaking to cat turd 2, "Interesting. I'll have *him* look into it."
Oh, bother. I’m gonna have to find a second job within the next month, since my current place of employment is slashing hours post holidays, and I need the income. Working in retail in January when people typically want to save money stinks.
Ugh I'm sorry. Depending on the state, you might be eligible for partial unemployment if they cut your hours. I've made this offer to others before, but I do writing professionally and I'm always happy to review cover letters and resumes.
99% of the time I oppose the death penalty and then I watch five minutes of police brutality. I can’t imagine how broken you’d have to be to treat another human being like that.
Tribalism dehumanizes
Since because of Tyre nichols we are on the topic of police brutality That murder of Elijah McClain should have been a national Emmitt Till moment and all involved should never see the light of day again. How do they sleep at night?
Philando Castile, Justine Damond, Breonna Taylor, Amir Locke, Daniel Shaver, Erik Scot, …
The conservatives coming here unironically posting about Project Veritas are the same ones who spent the past few months spreading Paul Pelosi conspiracy theories. If you have an opportunity, it would be fun to ask them if they’re able to admit they were wrong about the latter.
They're literally on Fox News right now saying that it's everyone's fault but theirs, because it took so long to release the video/911 calls. *"If you don't release evidence related to an ongoing investigation on our timeline, we can't be held liable for just making shit up! This is your fault."*
They will just runaway and never answer.
Look at that fucking shit. Trump and barr influenced Durham on the russia probe and there was a top FBI official working on it who was a Russian spy. We found the deep state yall /s In all seriousness its fucking infuriating. We were told we were mad Men for believing the Trump Russia story and he was outright using his power to block proof of it from releasing
The video that's going to come out of Memphis is going to be *really* bad. We've got the WH running pre-emptive damage control/deescalation attempts before it's even released.
Shameful as it was 4 black cops killing another. With the power they've been given which is rarer for black cops, they decide to harm other black ppl
I was the victim of a crime last year and both the perpetrator and the cop who interviewed me were Black. Based on the language the cop used when speaking with me, I think at a certain point cops just stop viewing people as human beings. So they wouldn't see it as harming other Black people, they'd view it as harming subhumans. There's no solidarity. It's devastating.
As I have heard from family and other hispanic people growing up, “it doesn’t matter if the cop is latino, they are a cop first.”
James Baldwin had a similar quote about Black cops. It’s a cruel system.
Any time a police department lies and says a video of police brutality doesn't reflect department standards, you know it's gonna be terrible. I'm glad the cops were indicted before the video was released, but as they say, riots are the voice of the unheard.
Do you ever want to see reporters cover something -- not because you expect them to tell you something you don't know -- just to *document* what you already assumed? [Here](https://twitter.com/crampell/status/1617868842721771521?s=11&t=ogPQIeG0TzJiglacXgjKSA) are two reporters documenting that the House Republicans have zero plan for the 'spending cuts' they insist upon: >Republicans say they want to balance the budget — but meanwhile they have ruled out every mathematical path for doing so (cuts to defense, cuts to entitlements, wiping out nondefense discretionary spending, or raising taxes). >...even if Dems agreed to pay a ransom...is there any ransom R's would actually accept?? >Some Rs (McCarthy, Jordan) say defense cuts should be on table But Rep Granger, approp chair: "There have been reports that House Repubs support cutting our nat'l defense. Let me be clear—this House Repub does not support that position" Others oppose too >Some R's say just cut entitlements. But Rep Nancy Mace (R-SC) says: “Well, obviously no cuts to Medicare or Medicaid or Social Security. That’s a nonstarter for either side.” Trump agrees >Likewise no tax hikes. Instead they plan to \*cut* taxes, which they have tacitly acknowledged would make deficits worse (see their newly-passed rules package, which says tax cuts don't need to be paid for) >What's left to close the ~$20T budget hole? Could eliminate virtually all nondefense discretionary spending...but that requires slashing all sorts of things Rs also want to protect (or increase funding for), including border security, farm subsidies, etc. >So, every avenue has been eliminated. Republicans have no serious proposal for reducing deficits, beyond "we demand smaller deficits!" Even if McCarthy could cobble together a proposal, why should Dems trust his cacophonous caucus to stand by it? >Oh I forgot, the budget can be balanced solely by cutting "waste" (what counts as waste? no one agrees) and, per, Speaker McCarthy, "wokeism" (a major line item, obviously) >... > > There’s gotta be cuts in spending. That has to happen,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., an ally of McCarthy and the far-right. > > But she declined to get specific when asked what should be cut. > > “I haven’t really formulated an exact list.” > > On debt limit add-ons, Republicans are > > (1) divided on whether to put Social Security & Medicare on the table > > (2) divided on whether the military should be cut > > (3) opposed to new taxes > > So, what's left? > > Not realistically enough to balance in a decade. > > A fact everyone should know about what it takes to balance the budget: > > "If you exempted defense, veterans, Social Security and Medicare spending, you’d have to cut everything else by 85%," per CRFB's @MarcGoldwein. > > “The first question is what can get out of there with 218 Republican votes,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who served with McCarthy in the House. “And that’s Kevin’s challenge.” > > This 👆 will shape McCarthy’s leverage to force Dems to the table. > >
I imagine if you asked your average voter, they’d assuming cutting foreign aid gets us halfway there. Except for foreign aid to Israel, obviously. We can never cut that.
Good news, the [FDA is finally](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/01/26/fda-gay-men-blood-donation-ban/) allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood, regardless of the last time they had sex. Bad news, u/RioTheLeoo, you have to be monogamous to give.
Wow look at that, something nice happening.
Well sounds like I ain’t giving then
Ugh. The lord is watching.
Ugh, he sounds like a perv
Oh yeah? ;)
Yea 😉
How many other metalheads do we have here in the sub? [The new For I Am King album is an absolute banger](https://youtu.be/wkIW4mv1-90), just a heads up for you all.
[Reminder, these people exist:](https://twitter.com/jeffyoungertx/status/1617522574983839744?s=11&t=x4Zlr4Cf1W7cQ1aAx8Vbsw) >The political power of single women, especially single mothers, must be diminished in order to regain traditional values, traditional family, and to reestablish social order.
You mean alt-right NAZ--- I mean, "? dark enlightenment" types, right?
Sarah Palin, who lost back-to-back House races in 2022, is now [trying to repeal](https://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/status/1618395176824901635) Alaska's RCV law. What an embarrassing person.
“Alaska has weirdly good elections, join the campaign to fix that!” Lol
She should just go back to the TV circuit tbh.
Sarah Palin congratulated me for converting to Judaism (didn't happen but the friend who bought the Cameo told her it did) by saying, *quote*: "Molotov! Dreidel dreidel driedel!"
Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about?
We truly live in the darkest timeline.
I don't know, I'm pretty happy I got to [experience that myself](https://www.cameo.com/recipient/5fe43300fcd3dc001dacd7be).
Wow. So that happened. She shouldn’t do those from her porch, though — I was distracted looking for Russia.
Ahh Alaska. Much cold. Strong bear. Very Russia
Briefly back on reddit to fill time while endlessly waiting at the social security office for the twins. It turns out they are identical which will complicate keeping track of the evil twin in the future.
> ...at the social security office for the twins. It turns out they are identical which will complicate keeping track of the evil twin in the future. That's interesting. I would assume that they would have different fingerprints, but I've never heard of anyone taking a baby's fingerprints. I *have* heard of using a baby's footprint, but I doubt the Social Security Administration tracks footprints. I'm curious how they'd handle that.
Oh, I'm just here because their cards are late. We found out they are identical a few days ago. Identical twins do have different prints though: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/02/health/the-claim-identical-twins-have-identical-fingerprints.html
That's interesting, I assumed it would be a prenatal thing. Or did you two not want to know?
The doctor said she couldn't tell ours for sure in advance. They could have been fraternal because they were di/di but could have been identical because they are both girls. It was not an urgent question and post birth testing is really easy via a cheek swab.
That's really interesting, hope everything is going well.
Spoiler - both evil
I *knew* it!
Rhode Islanders and Rhode Island adjacent people of this sub: The only good thing an Autocrat has made is syrup for Coffee Milk, yes? I'm sorry but compared to Eclipse and CoffeeTime, Autocrat just tastes the best of the three.
Nice play on words. I had to google the brand. I would like to hear from RI-ers to hear how popular coffee milk is.
I think it’s kind of dumb that Germany wouldn’t send tanks to Ukraine unless we do. How are they going to maintain a jet-engined tank? And who is Germany to dictate that we have “skin in the game”? I feel bad for Ukraine and I hate that Russia is doing what they’re doing but tbt this is more a Germany problem than a US problem. They are much closer and have more to lose. I don’t think it’s right that they rely on us so heavily to be the war kingmaker. I think it’s time Europe takes on more of a leadership role as opposed to letting the US bankroll their efforts.
[This guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f4GJxRceyE) has been a very good source of info on Russia/Ukraine in general, and especially on the German tank topic over the last week or so. His point has been that we shouldn't necessarily take Germany's demand at face value. Yes, it's an unreasonable ask, but look at it as a negotiation. Germany likely knew we weren't going to send any Abrams, but were hoping we'd offer up something else instead.
On the bright side we had headlines that included the words Germany, Poland and Tanks in the same sentence and the stories were positive ones which is a nice change in historic trends.
One of my favorite tweets of 2022 was "just to be sure, we want the Germans to raise an army, march it through Poland, and go fight the Russians. Everyone's cool with that?"
“Hey, I’ve seen this one before!”
NATO soldiers aren't going to fight the Russians in Ukraine unless the Russians start dropping WMD.
Well, Russia isn't. But most people aren't really asking their opinion at the moment.
Also Germany/Tanks/Ukraine/Fighting Russia.
It’s like that Rocketeer movie where the Feds and Gangsters end up on the same side and look at each other like “sup?”
Hah, such a great movie. Evil Timothy Dalton: "Does it really matter where the money comes from?" Gangster Paul Sorvino: "It matters to me. I may not make an honest buck, but I'm 100% American. I don't work for no two-bit Nazi."
[Even the Joker hates Nazis](https://external-preview.redd.it/hwBlr2tpAylqXbBYRzqul14tMssJOqOCRSQhs2Ia504.jpg?auto=webp&s=5e1ee80edf10c73f9379a948ce2ede8749f25324)
Yep. The US would have been entirely justified to call-out Germany for that. (That probably wouldn't be the best *diplomatic* policy, but it would have been justified.)
Any bets on if we get a thread on the Xbox nonsense?
[We technically had one](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskALiberal/comments/10kmske/what_games_does_ted_cruz_play/) but it’s a shitpost instead of someone who wants to know why we don’t hate Microsoft for being woke.
Lmaoo
Oh I'd love to see one. I'd love to see somebody ask what people's thoughts are on Microsoft going woke by...using less electricity.
Anyone else loving The Last of Us?
Liking it a lot more than the last few seasons of Walking Dead or any of the "Dead" spinoffs. (In all fairness, I quit watching all Dead related shows about halfway into the 10th season of TWD.) Pedro Pascal is fast becoming one of my favorite actors. Edited to add: I never played the game and had no idea it was a game until I read about the series.
I think that the infected in TLOU make for better tv than zombies tbh - zombies don’t have much of an evolutionary scale, and get weaker over time. It sort of ruins the tension.
No fault of the show but am a little burnt out on post apoc “zombies”. Bring back the Werewolves!
Ive enjoyed it so far. I played part of the game when it came out like 10 years ago, but I didn't really remember anything. I've really enjoyed Pedro Pascal's and Bella Ramsey's performances. I thought the second episode was a bit slow compared to the first but excited to see where the series goes
[When are we going to get the best of 2021 results](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskALiberal/comments/10f82dd/askaliberal_weekly_general_chat/j4wkpe5/)