Just my 2 cents, but the logistics part is substantial. Our jails and prisons are already overflowing (with the highest incarceration rate of the global north) so there’s no quick process that is feasible. We should have plenty of warning as to what’s coming down the works… as for having the means and ability to do anything about it? We shall see.

You’re not helpless unless you don’t take action. Build your community and celebrate the small wins. Find meaningful work(even volunteering) and build more connections to others. Having some of that to fall back on has kept me saner lately, and now I’m driven to focus more on that, least for the short term.

Appreciate the info!

Beautiful stuff, y’all. Keep hope alive!

Considering how under-funded and understaffed the IRS has been/is, they do a pretty amazing job with what they have to work with. Simplifying or redoing our tax codes again is a huge task that will take time. There does need to be some sort of progress though! We’ll see what type of government we’ll have shortly.

I’ve found multiple friendly employees at vape shops in both Arkansas and Oklahoma, especially in the college cities of course. But that might be a productive avenue that’s worth trying out.

Best of luck from an ally not too far away!

As a former recreational user of many substances(not LSD though), I understand your hesitancy. I had many great experiences on shrooms so I tend to recommend that before LSD. I just think it’s not as intense and has a lower probability of negative interactions or experiences, but that’s just based on what I’ve seen/heard/read. There are knock off versions of shrooms in vape shops but I have no idea what they are like.

I hear you. And I agree, I would love more independently edited press out there. PBS and NPR seem under attack regularly by the right, but they do a pretty good job of being unbiased overall.

I could see the point being to spread the information on what is happening so that (hopefully) we could elect more people who would do something about it. There are some elections coming up where, theoretically, the power could shift. There’s also lobbying our congresspeople, which can have an effect if enough people do it. The power of incumbency, uninformed voters, etc… make this a shitty situation, to be sure. I’m still trying to have hope that enough people pushing for change can find success. If not, I’ll just be cynical at the bleak prospects of life.

I say all that to say, we should fight however we can, but definitely keep pushing forward!

Is it really those 6 billionaires opinions in every one of the stories their media presents every day? Seems like a stretch. I could see them imprinting their biases and blocking stories that they don’t want out, but colluding to control the narrative gives them too much credit I think. I’m lucky enough to have some decent independent journalism in my area, but I would love if there was more!

IIRC, the reason sodium batteries would be better is we have abundant stocks of sodium, whereas the raw materials for most other batteries are limited and require more destructive mining. John Oliver just covered some of this on his show last Sunday. If that tech can be improved, hopefully there won’t be any deep sea mining for more raw materials!

Do you mean philistines?? And wtf are “sea people”? I’m thoroughly confused by all of your comments, as they make no sense.

You can sail the high seas for Fallout. It’s worth it!

Maron is still going strong, thankfully. I like Seinfeld’s Netflix show, but haven’t seen any stand up of his for years… I could see it being rough.

Ooph, legit reddit vibes with that exchange, as I hadn’t seen BTB referenced on lemmy yet. I need to check out that episode too! Appreciate it

Anything could have enough significance to warrant further study. If it has societal implications or environmental concerns, it could be deemed worthy. I’ve read some guidelines on how to read scientific papers, but don’t have the link on me. The scientists are supposed to list their biases, but it’s kind of on the honor system, I think.

Sign me up, too. This looks and sounds fantastic!

Right? I gotta upvote for how thorough this post was, and it was interesting on top of that!

In addition to the veto power mentioned above, there’s also the power to issue executive orders and to nominate judges, including supreme justices. Those are fairly significant. There’s also the influence they have over foreign policy.

Thanks for writing all of that, it’s very interesting! I can see how that would be an effective system, but as you said, very difficult to implement in the U.S. anytime soon. Even making some incremental changes would help, as I would think there would be good evidence from systems like yours. We shall see I guess!

Sorry to hear that, man. It’s definitely a sad situation all around. The apathy of so many is hard to overcome, then there are those like you mentioned who cling to cults of personality or are just looking for a savior. Democracy is still hanging on, but it’s in a rough spot.