Wasn’t Mueller behind the massive illegal spying program under George Bush Jr?

https://archive.is/PFUm4

Opponents have challenged provisions of the USA Patriot Act, the focus of contentious debate on Capitol Hill this week, that expand domestic surveillance by giving the Federal Bureau of Investigation more power to collect information like library lending lists or Internet use. Military and F.B.I. officials have drawn criticism for monitoring what were largely peaceful antiwar protests.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President's_Surveillance_Program

Disposable clothing. A very bleak state of affairs.

Wish we could just own clothes that last, but I swear to God I have more luck raiding my parents closets for old Polos than buying off the rack.

YMMV.

The unbranded clothes can easily be Temu tissue-paper quality or so rough on the skin as to cause abrasions after walking around in them.

Branded clothing tend to have a higher floor, at least.

Let us not forget our fine Latino men and women. Men 50% women 43%.

Lots of expats from Venezuela and Cuba who see Republicans as patrons for their clans. And Republicans reward these blocks with special privileges - prioritization for immigration, exception from state violence, lucrative positions in both the legal and illegal economy.

Marco Rubio got his start selling concaine on behalf of his brother in law Orlando Cicilia, for instance. He was able to rapidly rise through the political scene by playing in an industry the CIA had long staked out for Cuban exiles.

Plenty of Republican women voters are post-menopausel already. Plenty are insistent that their daughters get pregnant already, or that their son’s sexual partners carry a fetus to term.

This isn’t a gender thing nearly so much as a class thing.

Al Bundy avi

This checks out.

Charlie Kirk, then

Vaccine status?

That was (ostensibly) in response to Syrian leadership going after the Druz, whom Israel needs to keep Syrian Muslims in check.

Hezbollah insurgents have started trying to retake parts of their country, with Israel focused on Iran.

The Israeli response has been to kill a bunch of civilians in retaliation.

No kidding.

The Gaza war has become the deadliest conflict for journalists in history, with reports indicating that Israeli actions killed over 180 to more than 270 journalists, mostly Palestinians, between October 2023 and August 2025.

The trick is how to accomplish that in a country which is actively hostile towards education and working class empowerment.

It’s a real snarl, no doubt.

I’m in my mid twenties and I can’t drive a car, I have a crappy job, and I still live with my parents.

Can you hold someone’s hand while they rant about their shitty day? Can you pack a lunch, hail an Uber or find a bus for a day at the park, and rub someone’s feet while you both sit in the sun? Can you carry a tune or tell a joke? Can you show up on time for a date?

You’d be surprised how many people can’t. Lots of people have shitty jobs in their mid twenties. Lots of people still live with their parents because rent is so obscene. You’re not alone.

I feel like what I can bring to a relationship isn’t enough though.

Meet other people. Show them a good time. Let them be the judge. Don’t hang this on yourself beforehand

the US was trending upward in terms of influence and had no meaningful competitors on the global stage after WWII except the USSR, which collapsed.

The US had the USSR as a direct competitor, but it also had a thousand anti-colonial independence movements that were tearing away the fabric of the old European empires, which the US had intended to inherit.

When the USSR failed, the US moved on to try and pick off all these smaller regional adversaries. And it’s this endless campaign to recolonize the Global South that’s described as “upward influence”.

With the slow death of US dollar dominance and the rise (and much smarter politics) of China, I don’t see how that trend will reverse itself.

Americans can just stop the wars. This won’t end the bleeding, but it can be the beginning of the end.

We can kick out our own despots and return to the bargaining table. We can pay reparations and turn our bad actors over to the ICC.

We can reform if we want to do so.

We don’t want to. But we could.

The threat isn’t a single dramatic crash. It’s a long, slow institutional rot that’s already underway.

You could have made the same critiques under Bush in 2007 or Reagan in 1987 or Nixon in 1971.

These aren’t new problems or new forms of rot. I think you’re underestimating the forces keeping the gears turning. This isn’t our first rodeo with a shit President. Go back and read about Bush 41, LBJ, or Truman. Go read about Cleveland and McKinley and Wilson and Hoover. These people were shit. But they weren’t the end of the nation. They certainly weren’t the end of the system.

winning or at least making huge gains

What are the odds that the Democrats win the Senate, even in a landscape with +15 D turnout?

Dems still have to defend somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4 seats and are in a position to gain… maybe +3-4? Six on a truly historic landslide. Which puts them right back where they were in 2020, with John Fetterman filling in for Joe Manchin / Joe Lieberman, and everyone has to peg their hopes on Platner or Slotkin not going completely sour.

This is not swing districts moving half a point.

Go back to 2018 and remind yourself of how Democrats played themselves against Trump in his first term. Two years later, how did Biden behave?

At some point, you have to see this for what it is. We have two business parties, each of which are jockeying to be the champions of a handful of deeply reactionary Silicon Valley trillionaires and their buddies at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. What do you think a Dem Majority is going to do about ICE in 2027? What do you think they’re going to do with the Epstein Files? What do you think they’re going to do about Iran?

Go back to 2021. Go back to 2012 and 2008. Go back to 1993 or 1977. There’s a pattern here, for those with eyes to see.

Time heals all wounds. But you do have to stop picking at the scabs.

Get a gf. She says “good morning <3”. You feel like shit, so let her know. “<3 you too. Rough start. Hope your day is going better.” You might be surprised what you get back.

It’s funny, there was another thread a while back about a girl who meets a guy and clicks. They hook up. She keeps trying to be sweet to him and he ghosts her. So she goes into her own depressive spiral because she assumes she’s the one who isn’t enough.

Other people have shitty days too. Other people are going through what you’re going through. Other people will understand. Reach out, speak your truth, and if that chemistry you had at the beginning meant anything it’ll mean they’re sympathetic to your plight.

And then go do some fun shit together. FFS, it’s a nice time to be alive. Get some sun, eat some food, suck in some fresh air, and hold hands. See if that doesn’t put you in a better mood. Sometimes it really is just a bad start to a normal day.

happiness comes from within

In my experience, having a constant companion has a positive feedback loop. People you can continuously interact with - joking, catching up, eating together, helping one another out, just Netflix’n’Chilling… it’s reaffirming.

But it is a loop. You don’t just wake up happy forever. There’s ups and downs. There’s psychical and emotional adjustments. You’re not immune to despair. You just have someone you can be glum around who - ideally - fills you in on the lows and rides with you for the highs.

If you’ve got a bunch of mental baggage going into a relationship, your partner (ideally) helps you unpack that shit and dispose of it. Or, at least, shows you their own baggage, so you know you’re not alone. It doesn’t just go away instantly, but over time you can put it behind you precisely because you’ve got someone else in your life affirming your own worth.