I don’t think it’s reflexively contrarian as much as dissatisfied and reactionary. Things aren’t great and they’ll vote for anyone who says they’ll change things (e.g., Trump and Bernie) and against anyone who says things are just fine the way they are (any DNC bobble head).

He’s such a great example of why inherited wealth is such a a bad idea. If he didn’t start so close to the finish line, he’d just be some random unemployable loser that nobody has to deal with.

These sorts of agreements are always so one-sided, also. What the company gets (tax breaks, property deals, etc) is always explicitly specified in the agreement but what the town gets (jobs, tax revenue, whatever) is left as unwritten assumptions, with the former never seemingly tied to the latter. If it wasn’t for the kickbacks and bribes, you’d think these towns were just really bad at writing contracts.

Protests work as a show of force (to the target of the protests) and to generate solidarity and increase numbers (for the protesters).

For them to actually work as a show of force, there has to be a credible threat of violence (or political action) waiting in the wings. All of the successful non-violent protests in the past had this. The idea is that you work with us on these reasonable requests or we put your heads on pikes. Without leverage, the protests are just a means of venting pressure.

By following the law that required this release of files, which includes things like limiting redactions to specific topics, accompanying the redactions with explanations as to their content, and retaining the unredacted versions for congressional inspection.

They are deliberately creating doubt and confusion to avoid accountability.

Man, the contortions that editor had to go through to get to that tame headline are spectacular. The tip says that he raped a pregnant 14 year old then oversaw the murder of her newborn baby.

Portraits of Trump in various poses.

He invested $800M in Yahoo! In 2008 and lost it all, among a whole series of other fuck ups. I think he’s an illustration of the rule that if you’re rich enough you don’t have to be very good at anything

What we also don’t need is yet another political dynasty.

Suppressors are a prime example of how Hollywood has shaped so much of the population’s perception of firearms. You even make a great example yourself by calling them silencers.

Suppressors are a great tool for making a loud hobby less likely to damage people’s hearing (yes, even with proper ear protection) and less annoying to everybody else within a few miles. They don’t make guns silent like in the movies. Some countries like the UK even require them or make them readily available because they’re so obviously beneficial.

I thought the old saying was that evil will always triumph over good because good is dumb.

Exactly. I’ll eat my hat if any of the key people gave any consequences at all when all this is over. It will be all, “we have to look forward, not backward.” I wouldn’t be shocked if an elected Democratic president pardoned Trump and his goons so that we can “heal as a nation.”

It’s not that frightening. You can get the app yourself: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pantone-connect/id1491023737

I got shot with salt by a farmer when I was a kid. It’s definitely real and scroogy old bastards seem to like it.

I wouldn’t have known that that rendition of skull and crossbones was Nazi symbology and just learned that today. He has a plausible story for how he got it, but you’re presenting this 1919 thing as a pattern to discredit that story.

If the 1919 tattoo is unrelated (and it sure seems to be), then your pattern of multiple Nazi tattoos falls apart and his story isn’t discredited by it.

Here’s the other tattoo. Big fat nothing burger.

Pro Trail Crew: Maintaining & Sustaining AMC White Mountain Trails since 1919

AMC Professional Trail Crew

The A in ACAB really does mean all

Tally fucking ho

I wouldn’t say that they aren’t doing anything. The number of letters we’ve received asking for donations to the party has sharply ticked up. They’re getting what they really want from the situation.

The last few elections have taught them that they don’t need to win over the progressives. They need to capture that centrist/center-right majority that are looking for a reason to ditch the Republican Party. I expect they’ll lean into that in the mid-terms and in 2028.

[I wish I could end this with /s.]