Best I can offer is $90 for a single jock strap.

Meth lab oompa loompa is the best new meme I’ve seen in a long, long while.

We prefer you call him The Great Pumpkin, thank you.

I would take those and the adhesive rubber feet that you would get with switches and make coasters out of them to give away.

Blew it.

Heaven help you if you think the Great Pumpkin is practicing any sense of morality even though he’s an asshole.

It’s not like we’re beset with good leadership options on any “side”. We just have the options that we’re told we have.

It’s all a practice in keeping fences for the livestock, so to speak.

Scott Bakula is what I was thinking.

I concur with all of your statements, to include the one concerning the realization of being a cog in the machine.

I have several errands to run, and would love to continue the discussion when I return, if you’re amenable, of course.

You have a great points, though your scenario is a bit too simple.

It’s not that we’re so fat and lethargic that we can’t be bothered to get off the sofa long enough to effect meaningful change. It’s that “the media” is gargantuan and goes far beyond the synthesized news cycles and reports. The OG social media outlets like churches, work culture, family structure, regional Identities, and every other socialized structure you can think of manifests itself into these ideals that have been pummeled into our head since the first time we stood up in preschool and recited the pledge of allegiance.

Making it more complicated is that our real concerns like, paying our bills, feeding our families, getting Timmy to soccer practice, protecting our kids, being a good employee so we don’t lose our job, being a good dad, being a good son, keeping our relationships healthy, etc., etc. is condensed into an infantesimally small amount of time. When you finally get to stop you’ve only got the bandwidth for bullet points. It’s not laziness, it’s exhaustion. It’s not lack of self-reflection, it’s overclocking. We have an entire backbone population that’s absolutely exhausted and still feeling like failures because somehow the American dream is feeling like a greasy, over-hustled nightmare that we’re constantly struggling to live up to.

This cycle does lend itself to your headlines of gun violence, gladiator arena us v. them politics, and on, and on. The system with which we now live is a constant grinder that no longer leaves time for, nor praises individualism and ideas. It’s a finely tuned revenue machine built on an overhauled slavery model that instead praises corporatism, classism, ruling parties, and residual monthly income… with a smiley face of nationalistic exceptionalism posted on the packaging.

Apologies for being so long winded, but some sympathy for the devil might be in order. We’re largely not a bad people. Most of us are kind, optimistic, and try very hard to change the things we see out of place. The problem is we’re becoming more and more just white noise in the background. A sort of spectre of idealisms past.

The avocado toast is fan-fuckin-tastic here.

It’s too late now. Y’all had your chance. We’re taking our lemons and going home!

Oh no. No, no, no, no, put it back!

I have an AWD Hyundai Kona. I regularly drive to work in more snow than that on the roads during the winter… easily.

I bought bidets for the house during the COVID toilet paper lunacy and it’s likely the best personal hygiene investment I’ve ever made. I still get upset when I have to poop somewhere that doesn’t have a bidet.

Clearly this man has never

Over the many years I’ve been alive, I had different reaction styles to tirades about BS that I didn’t believe in. It ranged correcting, arguing, careful explanation, irritation, indignation, finding common ground, and the list goes on and on.

The ONLY way I’ve ever found peace from these tools was to go silent, give them a stare of disappointment, and then completely ignore their existence. When they ask why I don’t come around or talk to them anymore, I let them know that it’s much easier to follow their Lord’s example and let them make up stories about how much I love them, and how great I am without me ever having to be anywhere near them or their bullshit.

I moved away from that garbage 10 years ago and have since made friends that I have commonality with rather than choosing to be around individuals because they were all I knew.

The only problem I’ve not found a solution to is that the fuckers still get a vote.

Depends on what club he’s hanging out at?

It would appear that based blanket statements aren’t the sole domain of MAGA shitbags.

Hear, hear!