Yeah, the last time marriage meant more than a tax break was probably back when it was more like legal slavery, and even then it was expected that the commitment was more for the wife than the husband.

The whole thing is absurd. My mom divorced and remarried four times, so I decided I’d only be married once. When my wife and I married, we’d already been together for a decade. But I know that’s not common, and I don’t begrudge people getting married for tax perks. Which is why anyone should be able to marry whomever they choose.

The popular vote does not matter. It has no effect and no consequences. So you can give up on that.

I didn’t say it’d have any practical consequence. It would, however, maybe keep alive the dying ember in my soul that there’s a tiny shed of hope for some future generation.

Boycotts have consequences

Do they? I’ve been boycotting Nestlé for about a decade now, and they seem to be utterly indifferent to the fact.

putting gas in their cars and feeding banks. It’s reckless. Then they wonder why republicans take power.

I… look I get your point, but at the risk of nitpicking, how are they supposed to not put gas in their car? Quit their jobs, or get fired because they won’t come in to work? Even if you live in a city, most in the US have barely serviceable public transportation systems, and companies are going hard-core rolling back WFH.

Recent example of boycotts working: McDonalds in Israel gave free meals to soldiers.

Has it stopped Israel’s invasion of Gaza yet? Heck, it’s even limited in effectiveness when whole countries join a boycott. Russia’s under sanctions, which is just a fancy word for country-level boycotts, and while it may have slowed them down, they still seem to be making steady progress. “Blood diamond” boycotts haven’t put Debeers out of business yet.

Boycotting is mostly a feel-good gesture, or, I’ll grant, “at least I can feel like I’m not contributing” moral superiority - which certainly has value.

You seem to think I’m anti-boycott, when I actually just think they only rarely move needles.

That’s not how gerrymandering works.

Gerrymandering affects state legislature, which translates directly into local laws that directly affect things that influence general elections - like voter intimidation laws, registration laws, mail-in voting laws, judicial and law enforcement elections, and countless legislation.

The inaction you advocate only supports Project 2025.

Uh huh. Boycotting’s going to reinstate Roe v Wade. You go ahead and message me an “I Told You So” when that happens.

Yeah, I kinda figured when the truck convoy started out there you guys had your own problems.

Oh, man. That’d be a book. Or maybe a chapter in an alternate version of Hitchhiker’s.

It always turns out to be the equivalent of a reality show host.

<sigh> In a country with a barely functioning (for the non-wealthy) medical system, it can still get worse.

Yah, you may be right. I’m at the limit of my materials science knowledge, here.

Conductivity is more germane to heat loss through the material. Borosilicate glass’ specific heat is also roughly twice that of steel, at around 0.830 J/g C to 316 steel’s 0.468 J/g C. Glass will absorb and retain more heat for longer;steel will absorb energy and heat up more quickly, and dump it just as fast.

I mean, we’re taking about millimeters of material; the quality of the cozy will have far more impact than the container material.

There’s a good chance for another major pandemic, and we’re passing the global warming point of no return.

For better or worse, the US was the biggest player on the planet; now that we’ve fumbled, I think the world is done for. Maybe China could have risen to take the US’s place, but they’re stumbling toward an economic catastrophe, India has their own problems, and Russia is exposed as a bit player. The EU could have been a shining beacon, but they’re struggling with their own rise in fascism. Who else is there? A South American country? They’re barely holding on to their own economies. Canada? Too small - I mean, big country, but not very big population (1/10th of the US). And the US is big enough that when we go down, we’re going to drag a lot of the planet with us. Shit, thanks to Russia and Israel, we’ve been edging into WWIII. Trump’s senile enough to press the button, I have no doubt, and he’ll be completely surrounded by moronic Yes-men this time, with no one to try to talk sense into him. Maybe a relatively quick, fiery end would be better than a painful spiral.

We’re done as a planet. Some creatures will survive, but humans have used up all the readily available low-tech surface resources - oils, coals, metals - so anything that evolves intelligence after us won’t make it past the stone age. And then, the sun will die.

At least we have more solid evidence to the answer to Fermi’s paradox. It’d be a bigger question if we weren’t rushing toward our own extinction.

Nope. I give up. I’ll vote, if we even have a next election, but at this point I’ve lost all hope for America. I have no doubt America will allow passing an amendment to allow Trump a third term. If he survives that, a fourth.

It’s not just Republican shenanigans and Gerrymandering. We’ll see what the popular vote comes out to be; maybe Kamala will have “won” that, but the fact that enough Americans were willing to make this even a close race has destroyed any faith I had left about the country. Either a vast swath of the American people didn’t understand Project 2025, or they agreed with it; both options are utterly demoralizing.

Bullshit, “there’s nothing left.” Fucking idiots forget what a holocaust can really be.

There won’t be a Gaza, because it’ll be Israel. There won’t be Palestinians anymore. You think the destruction is bad now, you ain’t seen nothing yet. There will now never be a Palestine; any tiny chance was just extinguished.

Sad thing is, it’s the Palestinians in the Middle East who are going to pay for the dumb fuck voters in the US. The ones here will pay, too; only it’ll just be in more blatant bigotry and racism, not flat-out being murdered. And good luck getting their families and friends out; immigration was a huge talking point of the Trump team.

The extermination of the Palestine people is a high price to pay for the shocked Pikachu face that’s coming.