Thanks, it did trigger a bit of a depressive phase, which I sort of expected, but I managed to get through that one.

Well, I recently lost, like, 50% of my credibility as an intellectual as I stopped smoking. So I guess I am now somewhere in between both ends.

If these are two of the most powerful men on Earth, it’s surely time to jump on the next SpaceX rocket to Mars.

That is a weird way to spell “get out the guillotines”

Which I would classify as pretty weird, but not really unethical. Besides, I think the comparison doesn’t fully work - it’s more like, growing a lump on your body somewhere, having it removed, and saying “hey, can I eat that?”. Which I would also classify as weird, but not unethical.

There is actually a huge thing to consider with any kind of authoritarian system ideologically: Basically without fail, they will have a “rules for thee, not for me” dynamic behind the scenes. Make abortion illegal? It will still be possible to skirt the rules for the powerful, and pervert the right to control your own body as a woman into the privilege of powerful people - mostly men - to decide if they allow a pregnancy to continue.

Authoritarianism lives, psychologically, from having the people on top, the ones “worthy” in the eyes of ideology, being able to bend or fully circumvent the rules. Even today, this is clearly visible in how rich people, and even more so rich organisations, are treated differently in front of a court, where proper consequences seem to be an exception instead of the rule. This also shows in more fundamental, everyday mechanics of society, think of how the violence monopoly of the state more often than not rests on the tacit acceptance of excessive police violence. Where often, cops and paramilitaries in police roles within states are developing a self-image and identity, along the lines of “to protect society from itself and its horrendous violence, I must become a violent badass” - consciously or unconsciously enjoying the violence and control they can enact, or turning their heads when their colleagues do it, and reserving for themselves and their in-group the privilege to do so.

So, having someone like Trump, a clear narcissistic rapist, being both openly against abortion rights in his political platform while personally holding the belief of abortions being allowed, is no real contradiction at all. He can rest assured that if in power, he would have the privilege to force both consensual mistresses and victims of his assaults to have abortions anyway.

Exactly, it’s not like Trump himself is a fundamental Christian with misguided but deeply held convictions. He is a narcissist that wants adoration, power and to be in a special position where you can dodge consequences.

Mayo + Ketchup combined, the classic “Rot-Weis”-combo in Germany.

That or, preferrably, mayo + a good chilli sauce

Just another case of a small, unknown competitor trying to gain market share with the supreme life simulator sandbox CK3, smh frfr

Germany, don’t watch TV, have adblock on all devices - I guess I do still see advertisements on billboards when I go outside, but those are a bit different.

This is a lot worse, IMO, at least wiping your ass is a good idea - douching is just an all-around bad idea outside of very special circumstances.

Aw, a lot more tame than I expected. But I guess I understand why I’ve never heard of it, I’ve never seen that brand before in my life.

As someone outside the US, and someone who hasn’t seen advertisements in a long, long time - outside of memes that make fun of the shittiest ones - what is this about? I am always curious about how ad culture evolves, and having a bear literally talking about his shit-encrusted ass, on television no less, would be a rather fascinating escalation of the more publicly shown ad-culture to take into account.

Yeah, I never understood it either. Either have an open relationship with consent, or communicate whatever needs you have that you want to fulfill by cheating properly, and accept that it may not work out if there is truly no way to meet them. I guess I can at least abstractly understand when it happens spur-of-the moment and under the influence of drugs/alcohol, but I still can’t properly put myself in those shoes.

Don’t fuck with mankind - one of your siblings sinks one measly ocean liner, and they will boil the planet and themselves just to eradicate every last one of you.

Oof, I haven’t touched shaders in Godot myself yet, besides a very simple section during one tutorial, so maybe I should not give any advice, but I think this can be solved by applying the shader to the pond and adding a check for transparency before applying the changes to the pixels.

Polls are shit and only snapshots of an overall vibe-like probability - but this is still a very, very good sign.

I hope the people that were adamant about claiming that criticising Biden and urging him to drop out was in some way “bot”-behaviour or traitorous, or just claimed by tankie accelerationists, or whatever, realise that it was more often than not really based on concern of Biden not being able to win. The energy that suddenly got unleashed in this election campaign in just a few days and these new polls clearly show, that there was something to the concerns we had with Biden.

Not saying you were stupid or something for having the perspective you had, there were arguments to be had after all, incumbency bonus and the risk of having a new candidate so close to the election were things to be considered. But from what I witnessed, the discourse got really toxic at times and from at least some people. No, not everyone that wanted to replace Biden was a useful idiot or someone acting in bad faith. There were clear reasons, and in this case, things are very much starting to look like they were valid and good reasons, too. Enthusiasm is really fucking important in election campaigns, and Biden was a black hole sucking any enthusiasm out of any potential campaign.

Of course, there’s still work to be had ahead. But things are looking a lot better right now, and maybe another Trump presidency, this time with his fascist cronies being prepared fto properly enact fundamental changes for the worse, can be avoided yet. I’m still fairly pessimistic for the future, and would advise anyone to organise along radical leftist lines (IWW, SRA and local mutual help groups look to me like some of the best organisations at the moment in the US, speaking as a European outsider who may not have the full picture) and connect in networks that are prepared to react to the repression and chaos still on the horizon, but getting a few more years to do that organising while the global crises continue to march on is worth a lot.

That is actually one of the reasons (have to emphasise: among others, mainly delaying more open repression) I have been advocating heavily for people to turn out to vote for Democrats as a German communist myself. I know it’s cynical, I know I have it easy to think about it like this, not living in the US myself, all valid criticisms. But I genuinely think any Dem president winning against Trump might bait the most fascist elements in the US into really stupid violence they are not organised and prepared for. They think they are, but they are not.

I genuinely think more chaos and conflict is in the cards in the next decades, globally, no matter what is done and who is in charge (unless miracles happen and systemic change is pushed somehow within the status quo, I can see no avenue for it at the moment, though). So to me, that would be provoking fascists into doing something really stupid, too early, and out of a position of weakness, that will leave them weakened and yield a lot of ground to the left overall, making organisation for radical change easier.

No guarantees it’s going to happen and end up playing out like that, of course, details are always fuzzy and there’s no crystal ball. Same goes for my assumption that violence and global chaos beyond what people have been used to in the last 70 years will be inevitable in the decades to come (climate catastrophe, the end of neoliberal consensus worldwide, continuing crisis of capitalism with proletarisation and vanishing of the middle class in western nations), although I am a lot more certain of that development as a broad trend that has already begun, IMO.

Basically this, but usually the best ideas come to me during smoke breaks instead. (Still trying to kick that addiction, don’t smoke, kids, I’ve managed to get rid of alcohol and other drugs I experimented with in the past, nicotine just won’t fucking stop with the fucking urges, even when you manage to “quit” for months at a time.)

You truly are the hero we need but don’t deserve 🫡

It would have taken some big, unexpected developments for him to win at this stage. Especially after the failed assassination attempt invigorated and united Trump’s cult further.