There was a Tom Clancy novel, either Sum of All Fears or Red Storm Rising, where the president and cabinet were a bunch of stupid fuckups that kept on making bad decisions taking us closer to World War 3.

Put on some halfway decent headphones and try out the virtual barbershop.

There are people who, disturbed by “big government” today and its tendency to curb the advantages they might gain if their competitiveness were allowed free flow, demand “less govern- ment.” Alas, there is no such thing as less government, merely changes in government. If the libertarians had their way, the distant bureaucracy would vanish and the local bully would be in charge. Personally, I prefer the distant bureaucracy, which may not find me, over the local bully, who certainly will. And all historical precedent shows a change to localism to be for the worse.

—Isaac Asimov, Nice Guys Finish First, collected in The Sun Shines Bright, 1981

I love SOHKN MILINE!

It was a hostile takeover. One of the original founders tried to prevent it from happening.

“I tried to find out who was playing Baldur’s Gate 3, but all I found was this worthless pile of sexual abuse evidence!” [Throws cardboard box into incinerator]

Mirrored:

No, I took it

Person A: I like the Star Wars prequels!

Me: That’s your right.

PA: They’re my favorite Star Wars!

Me: You’re allowed to like whatever you want.

PA: They’re better than the original trilogy!

Me: [Through gritted teeth] There’s no such thing as objectively good or bad media so…

PA: Anakin is a tragic hero!

Me: Okay so…

We need never be afraid of the vote of informed Americans. It is only the ignorant voter we have to fear, ignorant politically, no matter how fine his house or how expensive his schooling. Such people have never experienced democracy; they have merely enjoyed its benefits. It is hard to explain what democracy is; it is necessary to participate in it to understand it.

—Robert A. Heinlein, Take Back Your Government

Unfortunately, there seems to be an awful lot of ignorance out there today.

I wish 10 Republicans would eat racist for lunch, because then we’d be down to 9 Republicans!

Which indicates that policy is secondary to messaging. On every substantive policy metric, Democrats are better than Republicans. People even say they prefer Democratic policies over Republicans’ when polled, by wide margins. So it must be the messenger and the way the message is being conveyed that is losing elections. That’s not to say that policies don’t matter, they absolutely do, but if you’ve got great policies and shit messaging, then you’re not going to win voters over, no matter how much better you are.

I don’t actually think it’s productive to debate whether Bernie would have won or not. I can think one thing and another person can think another, and we can argue forever and it’ll achieve virtually nothing. What I will absolutely assert is that, on paper, there’s no reason why Bernie Sanders, a socialist Jew from the second least-populous state in the nation, should be so successful, so he must be doing something that resonates with a lot of people! He’s acknowledging that people feel abandoned by the system and he’s demanding that something be done about that. Demanding change has been the source of all the biggest political success stories since Barack Obama. If the DNC can’t recognize the power in that, then they’re never going to get anywhere.

Dotally tormal nude.

It occurs to me that, apart from their egos being too big to share one biosphere, Khan and Lex Luthor would get along like peas and carrots.

No one will ever find our red-headed girl with a dappling of freckles on her nose and cheeks attractive!

Proverbs 26:18-20

Plata o plomo.

Kamala Harris voters, 2024: 70,356,521

People who claim to have been Kamala Harris voters, 2030: 100,000,000+

I got his autograph at a convention once. Most celebrities fall somewhere close to the middle of the “smile, nod, sign autograph, receive money” curve. Tony Todd started asking me questions about what I was doing at the con, what sort of stuff I was looking forward to. He was sweet and kind and giving to a gigantic dork to whom he owed nothing, and he gave me a memory that I’ll cherish forever. He deserves every ounce of praise he’ll receive, and more.