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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 7th, 2023

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  • I remember seeing Obama sworn in on the break room TV at work. People still didn’t say the quiet part out loud back then, but you could tell they were fucking seething about him getting elected.

    “Look how smug he is.” “She’s ugly.” “Just a disgrace.” “I bet they’re all happy now.”

    The people who would go on to become the MAGA of today, as well as Trump and so many others, will never let Obama’s victory go. They’ll never forgive him for being black, successful, and worst of all, more popular than they are.

    Even if Obama disappeared from the public consciousness today, or it was discovered that he’s committed some horrible crime and he goes to jail, they’d still feel that his getting elected was an unforgivable insult towards them on a personal level.

    That’s the kind of mentality we’re dealing with.





  • Two things would happen.

    1. They’d justify the ICE goon’s behavior by claiming the embassy was enabling terrorism or drug trafficking.

    2. They would pitch a huge fit, take some sort of extreme action, and claim they’re in the right because US diplomats are good guys.

    They don’t care about rules, ethics, or even having a consistent system of values. They only care about punishing people, power, and getting what they want when they want it. If they pull back at all, it’s only because they fear their support (and with it their immunity from consequences) is slipping. They’re just bullies and cowards.



  • The national guard is both state and federal, and can be subject to penalties under the Uniform Code of Military Justice at times just like active duty troops.

    If you just stop showing up, your unit declares you AWOL, and this can carry criminal penalties under the UCMJ. They may ask local law enforcement to bring you in. Jail time is a possibility in aggravated cases.

    You could claim certain types of mental illness, that you’re experiencing gender dysphoria, or fake a disqualifing medical condotion and you may or may not be discharged or face a court martial based on wether or not they think you’re lying.

    Depends on the branch, but you could try gaining weight and failing your PT test, however the process of getting discharged could take months/years.

    Failing a drug test would probably the be the fastest way out, but you’re potentially going to get dishonorably discharged, which can be treated as equivalent to a criminal conviction in some regards.

    Declaring yourself a consciencous objector could work, and is probably the closest to simply quitting, but the process of being discharged could be lengthy and involve some investigation to make sure your beliefs are “sincerely held”. Again, you may be dishonorably discharged or face other penalties if someone really wants to be an asshole about it.

    EDIT: After some googling. If activated under federal orders or participating in their annual training and therefore subject to the UCMJ, the consequences for a National Guardsman found guilty of desertion could be as severe as death. However, this is historically rare in the modern era.

    When not activated, most states have their own code of military justice, which often mirrors the UCMJ.

    https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/885

    Some other relevant reading:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Slovik





  • Not exactly sure what you missed or what your point is supposed to be.

    The same would be true of any ad platform. I hate Facebook for all the ills it’s caused society and it pisses me off that my breakfast cereal is slightly more expensive because of Zuckerberg’s compensation package too.

    But Facebook, et al. aren’t being discussed here. Reddit is.

    Even if I stay off the internet completely, a portion of the money I spend STILL goes in their pocket, and the only way to prevent it is to spend hours exhaustively researching every product I buy to find the one or two alternatives out of hundreds of others that don’t feed into the system somehow. And even if product A doesn’t buy ads on these platforms, the place I shop for it probably does. If I can’t buy direct, as is the case with so many purchases, all that time and research are robbed of any real impact by the fact that my closest retail outlet spends millions on targeted Internet ads.

    But it’s not really about the money though, it’s about where it’s going.

    In an alternate timeline, Spez, Zuck, and the rest are decent human beings with a functioning conscience and use their platforms for the common good. I don’t mind those versions of them getting a piece of my alternate self’s dollar. But I don’t live in that universe.

    So, because I’m stuck here, every single one of these modern-day Prometheus wannabe, god-complex, techbro shitheads can kiss my hairy ass.


  • I gotta unpack this a little…

    Reddit’s main source of revenue is advertising. Other companies pay Reddit to shove ads in your face. You probably buy products from at least some of those companies, and while market forces and consumer perceptions have large influence, operating costs are still a factor in setting those prices. Just like everyone else, Reddit sets the prices of its advertising services based in part on its operating costs, which includes Spez’s salary.

    Even if you avoid Reddit, things you buy are more expensive because this fucking toolshed gets paid $193 million a year just to be a sociopathic jackoff with a popular website.

    I quit Reddit years ago, but I’m still fucking pissed about this shit and I have every right to be.




  • Remember, it’s always been predicated on the idea that success proves worth regardless of circumstances, especially for American conservatives. It’s a myth built to serve those with power and privilege, a shield that protects their ego and image, and a gag for any talk of social or economic equality.

    Our founders paid lip service to egalitarianism and ridding ourselves of kings, then created a system that allowed for the rise of a new sort of royalty. Instead of titles and land, it’s wealth that creates power and is inherited by children.

    Universities don’t just sell knowledge, they sell opportunity and status, and the bar has to be high enough to ensure that only people the powers that be find deserving can climb over it.