Oh, that wasn’t my intention. I disagree with Chicago School supply-side economics. I also think it’s fucking dumb that DNC leadership pointed at economic indicators that left out cost of food and rent and said “things are great!” Economics in the west has been seen as fairly monolithic so I am pretty strident in my refutation of that view. I’m also certain about the real-world pressures that lower class Americans have to face- rent and food are more expensive than ever, while wages are stagnant and benefits are slashed.

In a roundabout way, I’m trying to speak to your original comment: what voters see as similar between Trump and Sanders is that they want to change the economic policies that have left average Americans with less money.

Ok, keep feigning ignorance, I guess.

That’s the common narrative around inflation. It’s wrong.

The pentagon lost (not spent, just straight up had go missing) 21 trillion dollars. Inflation didn’t spike.

I’ve studied college-level economics. I’ve worked in a shop that dealt in gold and silver. I’ve been looking into interest and monetary policy since the 2008 crash. What I’ve learned: day-to-day costs of fundamentals of living is not directly connected to interest rates. It is directly connected to what capitalists charge for them.

The CEO of Kroger admitted to price gouging. Yieldstar has been fucking up the rental market for years. Gas spikes in price during elections where a Democrat is the incumbent.

You can follow the standard explanation if you want, but don’t act like it’s a mystery how a lot of people weren’t happy.

The inflation stemmed from pandemic-justified price gouging on groceries and private equity purchases of rental properties. Government absolutely could have addressed this- even just continuing pandemic level food stamps would have helped immensely, but Biden ended it.

Biden pushed to take money and support away from people so he could declare the pandemic was over.

That’s truth. Recognize it.

It’s not a fucking game, you little shit.

I’ve been doing this shit since Bush. Things have gotten worse due to bootlicker apologia and you’re in for a longer haul than 2 years.

Do your caucuses and primaries, sure. Local politics are important. But also point out the massive and consistent failings of party leadership and call for their removal. The DNC has to go. We have to have radical policies instead of tepid incrementalism.

If you try to accomplish things and fail, you by definition didn’t accomplish things. He failed to browbeat, negotiate, and ultimately legislate. He was a weak president who failed to use the bully pulpit. There are always obstructions and difficulties- his job was to overcome them. If part of the reason he failed was due to members of his own party, that’s more damning, not less. Of his leadership, and the leadership of the DNC.

It’s not leading the local softball team, it’s leading the moat powerful country in the world. We can and should expect better.

Bernie would raise wages, Trump will give tax cuts. The promise is that people will have more than the minimum. Biden/Harris were telling everyone the economy is great when we all knew it wasn’t and we’re all worse off than we were 4 yeats ago.

Look at the material circumstances.

(Just… set aside that Trump’s tax cuts mostly go to the rich. It’s the narrative that sways voters more than the reality.)

“We didn’t go far enough to the right” has been the excuse for decades and it continues to be bullshit. The people telling you the rules of the game are lying to you.

Leftist domestic policies don’t win leftists, they win centrists, because those policies put money in the pockets of the working class. Improving Medicaid and food stamps, raising the minimum wage, UBI/federal job guarantees, building public housing, expanding unemployment, forgiving student loans, these all win lower and middle class votes.

Instead of any of this, Kamala and Biden said the economy is great.

I love Re-Animator! There’s plenty of gore but it’s splat-stick: it’s more absurd than shocking. Jeffrey Combs (of dozens of Star Trek roles) has a mad science duel.

I love sumac too!

They do grow fast- sumac can give shade in a sunny spot in a single year.

The way light comea through the leaves is so soothing.

Out west, country folk fucking love ranch. Especially with pizza.

You’re completely missing the point of the trolley problem:

Do you take an action that causes a direct harm, even if it’s in service to reducing harm?

It’s a valid moral stance to decide you will not personally perform a harmful action. That’s not walking away from the trolley, that’s refusing to throw the switch.

Your framing of the situation is false. Voting for Harris is throwing the switch and dooming Palestinians. Voting third party/not voting is not throwing the switch: you are not condoning the system that runs people over, you are not taking an action that directly harms people.

To be clear, throwong the switch is also a valid moral stance.

Personally, I believe voting for Harris prolongs our faulty political system. I voted for Kerry, then Obama (first willingly, then let myself be guilted into it). The Democrats have only gotten worse with time, and I won’t vote for a party that represents me less with time instead of more.

Probably easier to just stop giving Israel weapons.

He doesn’t have a dog. He didn’t choose to pick up poop.

Can someone ban this homophobe already?

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The Dollop is somewhat better

The limit wasn’t set at “definitely get poisoned,” but “noticable risk.” There was also the statistics saying the vast majority of people move before then or that the lines fail and need to be replaced anyways.

This was meant to balance safety with not bankrupting every small town for the poor decisions of the previous generation.

As this is relevant to my job, here’s the score:

This process has been coming for a few years now.

Some old houses had small sections of their “service line”- the pipe between the main and the internal plumbing of the house - made of lead. The amount of lead that leaches into the water depends on the chemistry (the Langelier Index) and the contact time. There is currently a requirement for regular testing to see if water that sits for 8+ hours leaches enough lead (& copper) to be dangerous if someone drinks it for 20 years.

The difficulty of replacement is that records from before the 60s are spotty and may not note the material of the line. This will require potholing in front of every house to try to determine the material.

My town was already planning this out, and was starting to get prices from contractors.