If I believed in a deep state (which I categorically do not) NYT would be part of it.

I do, however, believe in giant media companies funded by the 1%, who have just lost one of their own to one of the plebs, staffed by management who will steer things in the needed direction. Any doubt I had of that has been destroyed by their coverage of Gaza.

If you hadn’t written what you wrote, I would have been sure that was (amazingly) a Yugo.

Not only do I agree, but also it has been my feeling that the Starbucks footage and visit was a performance of some kind, and the water and phone they found were a distraction. Dude seems to have otherwise thought this through pretty well.

I admit that’s nothing more than a hunch though, and I can’t really defend it against anyone who disagrees.

2 or so years ago I’d have agreed with you.

But it’s become clear that the wealthy and powerful are beyond the reach of our justice system. coughdementedfeloninthewhitehousecough

So fuck 'em.

I understand why they will prosecute him if they catch him, but I wish for him to never get caught, and I feel really confident (given the other signs of planning) that the phone, water bottle, and very public appearance at Starbucks in recognizable clothing are nothing but a red herring.

My recollection is that what you describe became pervasive roughly concurrently with the rise of the original Xbox. I’m not pinning it to that device specifically, but it was during the time of the original xbox where I felt that voice chat in games transitioned from helpful collaboration to 99% toxic crap.

I rarely used it from that point forward, so maybe there was a later golden age I’m unaware of.

I can see how that makes sense. I’m not anti-psychedelics in general (if presented with a binary choice of being anti or not), but I’m also not of the experience level nor comfort level to be offering them to my son. If they would become something available to him clinically I’d support it if recommended by his doctor of course. (not that he needs our permission at his age)

Nonetheless I appreciate that you took the time to make that detailed write up. Thanks!

1.) I grew up in this line of thinking (but also deeply religious, so it’s a little different) and it dissipated due to two main things: psychedelics and losing weight/becoming more confident and in-shape. In my case, I hated myself because I was unattractive and very overweight. I saw other people getting girls and resented how easy it seemed, while I felt invisible.

My GenZ son is in his early twenties and lockdown and covid impacts on his health and school have really thrown him for a loop. He has not been overcome by fascist ideologies, but we seem unable to inspire him with any motivation. He’s the same sweet person he’s always been, but I think he is content to just play video games in his room and do D&D with his friends a couple times a week forever. (I understand that, but we won’t always be here to put a roof over his head, and we are not wealthy people. He’s going to need to support himself when we go.)

He is also very overweight (the entire family is, but he’s really accelerating it) and although he doesn’t seem very very bothered by it, I know he’s aware of it.

I understand the need for exercise and I understand calories. Those things don’t need explaining. But I’d love to know how you got over that hurdle to start doing something about your body. I feel like some successes there could easily translate to greater confidence and motivation in other areas.

We spend lots of time together, we enjoy him just like we always have, he just seems rudderless and we’re trying to help him without controlling him, but with limited success.

Anything you might be able to share about your turnaround could be helpful. Though I’m not offering him psychadelics. 🙂

It’s like if Hitler had been an isolationist.

That would mean destruction of NATO.

IIRC that’s an explicit Project 2025 goal, but maybe I misremember.

they’ve duplicated the censorship thing that reddit likes to do with defederations

I disagree that defederation is censorship, but no worries, we don’t have to agree! However:

i switched to lemmy.ml since it doesn’t defederate with anybody

https://lemmy.ml/instances

If you switch to the “blocked” tab you’ll see that this is absolutely not true.

One of my primary criteria when I needed to make a new lemmy account (due to problems with my original instance) was to be sure I picked an instance that had pre-emptively defederated from Threads. (as .ml does, but there are a lot more in that list)

And he also is overwhelmed by needing to do things in life but not knowing where to start.

You’re a human and you need someone to validate you. I can’t do that from a keyboard, but I can offer an internet hug.

There’s a lot of good advice here. I have a son not too different in age than you. Your post made me want to give you a long hug. I’m sure you have many things about you that are assets and you haven’t had anyone in your life to help you find them.

As others have said, you sound smarter than you think you are, and your writing is good!

Small steps, and celebrate the small victories. Make one little thing better about yourself or your life every day. No matter how small. And be proud of yourself when you’ve done so.

Go take the good advice from others, but here’s a Dad Hug™.

Only in a two-party system.

So you mean - like the system this election took place within?

For the love of all that is holy, do not assume that they will figure out everything you just typed above from the fact that you didn’t vote for them.

I don’t actually agree with your choice, but I do agree with this:

The Dems can be better, but they choose not to.

So please, if you have convinced yourself that withholding one vote out of tens of millions will somehow send them the message you are trying to send, please also convince yourself that it would be even more effective to drop them a line and let them know how you feel in explicit detail.

https://democrats.org/contact-us/

Same message for everyone else who chose a protest vote on Tuesday. It’s all great to feel like you did the right thing, but maybe now question whether your message will actually be received, and be sure that it does. Otherwise you put Trump in for literally nothing.

Yes but does every president have them in their phone with hearts next to their name? I don’t think so.

I’m fairly sure he’s got Putin in his contacts. He can just call him first and say, “Trust me bro, I got this.”

(Not that I think Trump will nuke Ukraine, nor do I believe for a second that our military will allow that to happen.)

I’m going with serious societal issue.

Legit visiting a McD’s and working with actual customers for awhile? Sure. An entirely staged photo op where nothing of the sort is done? Nah.

Having said that, I don’t view McD’s any more negatively than I already did for this. It is reasonable IMO for any presidential candidate to put in a stop to wherever. I am pretty doubtful that this particular franchise owner isn’t a Trump supporter, but I bet most of them are.

The first rule of usenet.