agamemnonymous

I've bought a few things recently, but one that really sparks joy is a 3DConnexion space mouse. Bit of a learning curve, but now that I'm used to it, the QoL improvement in navigation while 3d modeling is huge.

I feel like everything hinges on why your family is avoidant. Have they given a reason? It's at least worth considering that maybe there are some serious red flags you're ignoring. It may be prudent to talk to friends who know your girlfriend to see if they can corroborate any issues you might be blind to, and if these are serious issues it may well be worth reconsidering the relationship.

On the other hand, it could just be something petty, like race or class bigotry. If that's the case, you just have to make a stand. If you're serious about her, this will have to come to a resolution sooner or later.

But it's really impossible to give sweeping advice without knowing the reason.

We have dozens of new parties already. The problem is that none of them have the roughly 80 million voters necessary to win the general election, or the corresponding numbers to win a significant number of local and state elections. When, realistically, the single biggest issue is battling the slide into fascism, you need the numbers to stand up against the fascist party.

The DNC historically has the numbers, the marketing, and the resources to be contenders in that fight. Their platform is broad and vague enough to approximately appeal to a wide number of voters, both progressive and neoliberal. Displacing them in the minds of anti-fascist voters is a gamble, and requires a party with a similarly broad appeal, and the resources and track record to inspire confidence. These are factors that every existing third party lacks, and I see no reason why a brand new party could be expected to outperform them.

The only way I see it working would be a long, gradual promotion of progressives who caucus with Democrats, eventually displacing enough representatives to pressure Democrats into caucusing with them. But that's a long process that would require an incredible amount of grassroots campaign support, both in terms of money and platform amplification.

It's not impossible, but it's an uphill battle and it's useless to pretend it can happen in a single election cycle.

The free market is excellent at producing, at a reasonable cost, myriad voluntary luxuries like large televisions and speedy cars. These prices are naturally constrained by the consumers' willingness to do-without. When the consumer cannot rationally choose to do-without, the elegant self-regulation intrinsic to the free market evaporates.

On the plus side, maybe this will actually result in some kind of reasonable gun legislation that will trickle down to a reduction of general gun violence. Maybe. Hopefully. Sometimes all it takes is showing the leopard party that their faces are also in danger.

My only reference is an old reddit thread from someone who claimed to work there, but it exactly corroborates this.

Ben Franklin could almost be considered something like a shadow leader, with very little direct power but a significant amount of political influence. I haven't played newer Civ, if a Ben Franklin play purely buffs soft power, trade/research agreements, etc, I could see this working. He was still an actual statesman though, so even still he's on paper a better choice. But he's not a great choice if the build isn't based on soft political influence. But Tubman just wasn't that kind of leader, what she did was amazing, but it wasn't really leadership of a civilization.

Behold the man who is a bean

I literally can't

I think it's a perfect introduction to the series. It works perfectly as a bottle episode, you don't need to know anything about the lore to follow. It's actually about time travel. And it's just a good episode.

Warm weather enables a wider scope of stupid behavior.

Direct communication to people associated with DNC strategy, a noble and effective action.