I was going to make this, but put Palestine before the fork. And then put the person away from the lever refusing to participate when pulling the lever would move it to a track with nobody on it. Or pulling a different lever that does nothing (labeled Jill Stein).

Palestine is and will continue to get run over regardless who wins the presidency, so they aren't exactly relevant to the choice. It's not a real trolley problem because it's not a trade for different people. It's just "let the trolley run over Ukrainians, lgbtq+ people, minorities, and immigrants" or... don't. And then refusing to touch the lever because it somehow makes you "love genocide" to have anything to do with the trolley, even if to mitigate the damage.

But if you wanted to do something about it: these weapons come from this country and they have to get there in trucks traveling on roads to ports that load them on ships.

We are discussing voting, though. That's a bit tangential, because you can vote or not vote and still commit acts of... resistance...

And it's not like there's not a value to making genocide come with electoral consequences...

If you otherwise would have voted Dem against the Republicans, who are as bad or worse when it comes to the specific issue you're punishing the Dems for, you are hurting one group committing genocide by helping one who commits and wants to commit even more genocide.

All under the mistaken belief that by refusing to vote for the group you would otherwise vote for, you will get them to move Left. But if the Dems lose to the VERY right wing party, if the voting shows that Americans favor more right-leaning policies, they would move to gain the votes of the people who actually voted.

The reality is, refusing to vote is still a choice. As long as you are an adult who can legally vote in the US election, you are partly responsible for the results of the election. You don't get to wash your hands of it. Choosing to abstain because you don't want to partipate out of moral self-righteousness is saying your soapbox is more important than the lives affected by your choices, from the Palestinians to the Ukrainians, immigrants to LGBTQ. Nobody is more important than your ability to say "I didn't vote for a party that commit genocide."

So what are the other choices?

Let's take it step by step:

1. penalty tax the shit out of any owned housing (house or apartment) that stands empty more than 3 months (cumulative) out of a year. Some provision might be put in place for a house or unit under development or repair, which could only be used once every 5 or 10 years per property, regardless of owner. That works against the millions of uninhabited homes that drive up scarcity. It might also peck away at some of that AirBnB-filled places with no places to live (like where I live) in seasonal tourist areas. And it will give property owners incentive to lower prices to make sure they get tenants in (so they don't incur penalties).

2. Tax incrementally based on homes/buildings owned, similar to graduated income tax. Own a home with multiple units (and rent out the other units)? You're good (as long as they are occupied 9mo+ out of the year). Own a second home that you are renting out? Pay a bit more in taxes than your primary home. Own 20 homes? Good look profiting on that.

3. Well, let's see where that gets us, first.

Wasn't the US Constitution's 4th amendment the basis for Roe vs Wade? It would be fitting for the Florida 4th amendment to enshrine abortion access in their state.

A

Just a reminder to those "Biden and Harris are participating in genocide, it's not like Trump could be any worse" crowd.

It can always get worse.

Oh, we have the military superpower. We're constantly putting it on display. We're basically a giant weapons and war factory. When we go down, it won't come from the outside (except in the form of cyber attacks and misinformation campaigns).

Though I could see it in a few decades. Russia was a powerful body full of rot. We're a powerful body with an infection. If the authoritarians win, they'll replace competent people in key positions with unqualified party-loyal yes men, and that will start the rot.

I feel this is appropriate:

ERB- Roosevelt vs. Churchill

but it also made me extremely nervous when I hadn't been moments before.

I imagine that's the point of the hiss...

Do you need to be an -ian? Like, if you like the teachings of Ghandi, or Socrates, or Marcus Aurelius, you don't have to call yourself a Ghandian, or a Socratian, or an Aurelian. You just agree with their teachings.

I feel like you're just making a dig on Christians, and it's not like a lot of them don't deserve it, but what you're talking about isn't a religion. You don't need an -ian to like a philosophy.

Flying a confederate flag in Pennsylvania is about the most ridiculous thing I can think of off-hand. In the south, they're all about "it's not about racism, it's about heritage!" People flying it in the north are, like, "Nope, racism! I don't have any heritage with this, except its heritage of racism!"

There are people undecided on whether they will be voters. Plenty of people who would vote Republican who could not bring themselves to vote Democrat even against fascism, or a candidate with dementia, or a felon, might be convinced to just stay home. And plenty left-leaning types who can't be assed to go to a ballot box might find the motivation when they have someone that actually seems presidential, who they might want to have as a president (when apparently the threat of fascism wasn't enough of a motivation).

Holy shit that was infuriating. He wasn't trying to get answers. He was trying to talk while having her sit across from him. What an absolute toolbag.

You don't need landlords for non-ownership and temporary housing solutions to exist.

For example...

I'm going to let you in on some insight from a 40-something millenial:

I feel like being a adult is just lying about how much you have your shit together to people who also lie about having their shit together.

It starts off that way a bit, and you're expected to at least put forward the impression you have your shit together before you do. But then the pretending gets easier and easier until you realize you're just paying your bills, getting your laundry done, and doing what you need to do while feeling like you're failing at the new, added responsibility in your life (like big career changes, kids, projects taken on, kids, taking care of family or friends, more kids). But that's with anything new you take on. If you aren't struggling at least a little, you're not growing.

After we got out of college, we are just going to sit in front of a computer like the generations before us for the rest of our life, with the only difference of be paided less then them.

If you choose that. I can't speak to the pay, because y'all are getting fucked... so far. I'll speak more on that in a second, but I was the store manager of a restaurant for a few years before moving to New York from Seattle on a whim, worked customer service at a phone center for a cable company, and then joined the Coast Guard in my mid-to-late 20s, and drove boats until going into aviation and flying in helicopters, living in various places throughout the country, saving a few lives, flying in really cool places, and when I retire I can go do something else. People who stay in a job behind a desk their whole work life either love that job or are complacent in it. You are absolutely not chained to it.

And as for the shitty pay and everything, what I have seen of the Gen Z folks that have come through the Coast Guard is that they advocate for themselves and get things that we millenials are embarrassed to hear requested, much less think to ask for ourselves. And look to all the labor movements going on to push back at those pay drops. Keep the momentum, keep up the fight, don't get complacent like my generation or Gen X.

not one of us could have imagined the entire generation having a mid-life crisis at the age of 18.

That's not a mid-life crisis, that's just the normal fear of entering the world for real, and it's been that way for a long, long time. The crises come when you start feeling how little time you have (quarter-life realization you just don't have enough lifespan to do everything you hope to do, mid-life realization of how little time you really have). Your thing is simply the fear of embarking into the unknown, and your doomscrolling has made your future look bleak. Put the phone down. Take opportunities when you can. Enjoy what you can out of life.

The whole thing is daunting, I totally get it. But going in with the approach you have is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I wish it were required that both parties agree to the lawsuit being dropped for it not to continue. I'd love to see this frivolous bullshit forced into a courtroom against the plaintiffs will by the defendants.

I feel like the correct answer is:

If there is a safe direction to point the weapon and you know how, point the weapon in a safe direction, remove the magazine, and lock the slide to the rear. Store the ammunition and weapon separately in locked drawers/cabinets and notify law enforcement.

If there is no safe direction or you are not knowledgeable about firearms, carefully place the weapon in a locked drawer or cabinet and notify law enforcement.

And the only reason I say notify law enforcement is because I can't imagine hospitals have anything like an armory to store firearms in.

I disagree. If we sent 100 personnel with an air defense group to Ukraine, shit would get pretty real pretty fast. Sending people is a whole different commitment to sending weapons.

I had an old instructor who liked to say "when it comes to breakfast, what's the difference between the chicken and the pig? The chicken made a contribution, the pig made a commitment."

Sending our own troops stops being a contribution and starts being a commitment.

Yeah, that asshole went from bad to worse. Every other villain has some level of redemption, even if it's just understanding them enough to jive with them (cough Zenos yae Galvus cough).

But not that asshat.