The fine was not written in red ink diagonally across the postage stamp. No countsy.

-Elon Musk

$100-1000 watches are not being flashy with their money. Almost everyone I see with a watch has a watch in that range. Flashy watches are usually 1K absolute minimum. Apple watches are like 300-700 and they’re everywhere.

My neighbor bought a new 64K truck (I know because he constantly mentions the cost) had a lift kit installed for 15K (I know because he constantly mentions the cost) has four kids who are bullies (I know because I see and hear them), and constantly complains about gas prices and property taxes, despite the fact that he is one of two houses in the neighborhood with kids.

Most of property taxes go to fund the public schools, which his children attend. Basically the neighborhood is subsidizing his children’s education, but he thinks he deserves to pay less in taxes. I explained this, and he told me I was full of shit, but I think he knew I was right, because he started revving his engine early in the morning the day after that and did it for like two weeks.

Hilariously, he stopped doing it not because I complained – I’m up early anyway – but because his wife came out in pajamas and started screaming at him for waking her up. Quite the metaphor for Republicanism.

I gotta get out of this neighborhood.

Mukdekeks.

That’s probably literally why they assassinated him

I thought that too, but upon closer examination it looks like dry wall.

The real question to me is why would you texture drywall to look like concrete.

That’s what happens when no one goes into trades and everyone wants to be a manager or “work in IT or with computers.”

Two of my friends are excellent tradesmen and they make a fabulous living. And they always have work and no student loans. They’re living really great lives and are very content.

"Once defectors make it to South Korea, often after a perilous journey across multiple countries, they go through interrogation by the government intelligence agency. Then they are sent to the main Hanawon complex in Anseong, 40 miles southeast of Seoul, to prepare for their new lives in the South.

The facility offers medical and psychiatric care. It teaches defectors about South Korean society and gender equality, and provides occupational training and counseling for skills including cooking, baking, nail art, skin care, clothes-making and mending, and long-term caregiving.

After completing the three-month program, defectors receive subsidies and housing benefits, as well as continued support from local centers to help them assimilate during their early years living in South Korea."

Doesn’t sound like they treat them like shit. Sounds like they actually have a very efficient and well-funded system to welcome and integrate defectors.

Are you yourself working for North Korea or something? “OMG yeah North Korea so great, they treat you like shit in South Korea, definitely don’t go there, the music is also bad.”

What’s going on in South Korea where someone in their 30s tried to get back to literally North Korea rather than stay? I know KPop is annoying, but cmon.

He was on antipsychotics and treatment for a week before he was mentally stable. There was more than mushrooms going on here. I’m guessing he may have problems with psychosis to begin with, and, combined with what I assume must’ve been an obscene amount of mushrooms, it caused a psychotic break.

Vaping isn’t great, but three things: 1) based on comprehensive, independent reviews of the scientific evidence by both Public Health England (the English Government Public Health agency), the Tobacco Advisory Committee, and other agencies, it’s understood to be 95% safer than smoking. 2) second-hand vape is 99% safer than second-hand cigarette smoke, and 3) vaping doesn’t stink in the same way and it doesn’t linger as long.

That being said, the fastest growing nicotine intake method is nicotine pouches like Zyn, which are even safer than vaping, have no second-hand effects, and don’t have any noticeable odor. They also have much less waste and most of it (the fabric pouch and shredded fibers) are biodegradable. Other than nicotine gum and lozenges, I consider that to be the best ideal substitute for smoking by far.

At that point, it’s barely much of a concern at all. Nicotine pouches are safer than alcohol, and I don’t care if people enjoy nicotine. I just don’t like the parts of smoking that affect other people: health burden, second-hand health burden, and smell.

Yeah, so does smoking. That’s my point.

Yes isn’t it obnoxious when leaders listen to their people despite their personal feelings?

All else aside, if our leaders were more like the crown prince, we wouldn’t be sending more bombs to the bombers.

“I don’t care personally, but my people do, so I’m doing what they ask.” Meanwhile, national polling suggests a majority of Americans want to stop arming Israel while they’re committing war crimes, but the overwhelming majority of our political leaders give full-throated support.

And America is, ostensibly, the democracy.

I mostly see homeless people and people in rough shape smoking. Probably in their lives it doesn’t matter if they smell like cigarettes. I worked once in a place where one guy of all the employees smoked, and he was basically a social pariah. And people like borderline harassed him for smelling like cigarettes. He used to smoke out front, then he was asked to some on the side of the building, but people complain about walking near his cloud to their car, so eventually he literally had to smoke either in his car or walk all the way around back and smoke against a brick wall with no windows away from the parking lot. 🤣

People barely smoke anymore. What is it, it’s one 5% of people with a college degree and 5% of people under the age of 30?

Smokers these days are mostly composed of uneducated, poor, older people. Not to say that is good, but uneducated poor people do a lot of stuff that is killing them. Given the massive decline in this generation, I think smoking is going to be much lower on the risks for uneducated poor people. Obesity is arguably a bigger concern I would say.

I don’t remember the last time I saw someone in their 20s legit smoking a cigarette that wasn’t at a party or something.

It’s cheaper for Valve this way, and it costs you more to do anything legally. Because, you know, you’ll have to pay legal fees out of your own pocket instead of initiating arbitration on Valve’s dime.

Yay, you won!

I’m not basing it on vibes, I’m basing it on a plurality of polls that have been done around this issue over the last six months, which have consistently shown there is only downside risk for Harris for something like supporting an arms embargo. These recent polls are considered low-quality polls by low-rated pollsters.

That said, I do hope you and these recent polls are right, but I’m dubious about it until we get more data. My inclination is to trust the preponderance of polls heretofore until there is more confirming data. It’s ugly, but because I see the election of Trump as existential for Palestine, stability in the middle east, and because there are nuclear weapons at play, I’m very keen to think first about Harris’s ability to win at this point in the election cycle than immediate action against Israel.

I don’t like how it is at all, but I recognize that what is already an atrocity will get significantly worse if Trump wins. When the downside risk is four years of unmitigated disaster home and abroad, and with the election only weeks away, I think it’s reasonable to be cautious. I’ll also add, however, that public support of Israel has been consistently eroding for months now, so it’s quite possible sentiment has changed enough that it would have a negligible or positive impact on Harris’s campaign, but the consequences if the polling is wrong or fails to account for knock-on downsides are extreme.

I’m working from the premise that I think everyone can agree with: a Trump presidency will be disastrous for Palestine and Lebanon. With that said, while polls from the IMEU suggest that Harris could gain support from progressives and Independents by endorsing an arms embargo on Israel, these findings largely reflect voters who are already inclined to support her. The polling indicates that those who already lean toward Harris would be even more motivated by such a stance, but it overlooks the potential backlash from other critical voter groups.

An arms embargo risks alienating moderate Democrats, segments of Jewish voters, and security-conscious Independents who see U.S.-Israel relations as crucial to national security. These groups could view Harris’s support for an embargo as undermining a long-standing alliance and weakening U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Furthermore, Republicans would likely capitalize on this policy shift, using it to energize their base and paint Harris as weak on national security.

In a national election, the net effect would likely be a loss of support in a race where she already has a roughly 50% chance of losing. The enthusiasm gained from progressives would likely be significantly outweighed by defections from moderates, the mobilization of well-funded, Israel-aligned PACs, and the energizing of conservative opposition.

The IMEU polling appears to oversample individuals who are already inclined to support an arms embargo on Israel, such as progressives and some Independents. This skews the results by amplifying the potential enthusiasm from voters who are already in Harris’s camp, while under-representing moderates, Jewish voters, and security-focused individuals who might defect if she adopts this position.

Unfortunately, the pool of voters who would vote for her only if she supports an arms embargo is much smaller than the larger, more diverse groups that could shift away from her if she takes this stance. But, it would be a calculated risk that maybe she should take. No one knows exactly how this would shake out in the election. Based on a broad examination of multiple polls, I’m inclined to believe this will lose her the election.

I think that the fact one element of Russian disinformation campaigns has been to amplify the question of Gaza in political discourse points to the fact that it’s a “loser” issue for Harris, where she loses if she doesn’t do anything and she loses if she does. But opinions and sentiment change, and maybe there has been enough of a shift in public sentiment that it won’t mortally wound her campaign anymore, but it’s a gamble anyway you slice it. If she takes the risk and loses the election, all of this is moot. Trump will arm and give full-throated support to Israel without regard for what they do.

K.