The US, and now MAGA, have historically been willing to play with a great many loaded guns. And we’ve shot ourselves in the foot a great many times. Dead soldiers? Meh. But fucking with our food supply has always been off the table.

Not to get all lemmy/capitalist/communist/revolution/comrade on ya, but as long as we’re fat and happy, no violence. The government is not stupid, not at that level anyway. Look how the government laid in food during the Cold War, converted us to a food exporter, fucked with Russia’s wheat exports. The powers that be are keenly aware that the population is a very short 3-days away from total breakdown. 2 weeks without food and the guns come out.

How many people voted Trump because egg prices were too high? Serious question. How many ignorant voters thought, “This is some boolshit! This is the President’s fault and I want change!”

Now imagine us fat Americans skipping a single meal. FFS, we rioted over a toilet paper shortage, and made it worse by rioting. Merely inconveniencing an armed population who has always had access to cheap and easy food? The mind boggles. Wait till we see empty consumer goods shelves in the next couple of months. Imagine if that was food.

EDIT: Too tired to get my thoughts in order. You get my drift. Goodnight John Boy.

Hits hard! But the people that need to digest it wouldn’t get the reference.

I think, perhaps, there is room in between those bullet points. Perhaps a few more nuanced options?

The survey did not go into details on the criteria used

I’m out. This “news” is utter trash. Shame on anyone who upvoted this out of “feels”. Some of you are no better than MAGA, popularizing garbage because it fits your view. Fucking be better.

They take the “business” tack because you can more easily put a value to it, they can show loss. Future pain and suffering and broad “human rights” arguments are more nebulous to a court of law ruling on a specific complaint. And courts only rule on the specifics of a case. “How is this action hurting you ATM or in the near future?” And prove it, with numbers and stuff.

Does that make sense? Courts are not interested in feelings or possible futures. The plaintiffs made a solid argument with, “This is hurting our business now, and by denying us planning, clearly hurts us in the short-term.” And no one is going to argue that farming isn’t a business with a short-term planning needs.

Pretty funny that farmers, insurance companies and the military recognize climate change as an immediate and future issue. Must be woke. MAGA!

The modern FBI has been plenty apolitical. 01/06 was the largest investigation they had ever deployed. While they’re still cops at some level, they seem to be professionals above all else.

OTOH, with Patel at the head, I’m sure the poison is running deeper and deeper.

I need to record my wife in the morning, she’d be appalled. She farts exactly once a day, no more, no less. By my god, a 100lb. woman letting loose like that is something to hear. I think she has some kinda extra storage sac.

I get those, but so rare that they still startle the shit out of me. Can’t describe the sound, since it’s all in my head. Not a sharp crack like a pistol, not a boom like a shotgun, not a crash like falling pots, not even in between, but every bit as loud.

Had it happen enough to be, “THE FU-! Oh. Whew. Just one of those things again. Back to the tinnitus.” (In a perverted way, I kinda dig the tinnitus. Not crippling like it is for many, just, “Neat! There it go again!”, and then my brain tunes it out.

Just a few clips of that movie scarred me as a child. Of course, so did the fembots.

I work in the outdoor lawn and garden department. As you can imagine, this is our busy time. As in, we make 75% of our yearly money in these 3 months.

Yeah, we got dudes whose sole purpose on some days is standing around loading mulch, dirt and rocks. “Loader” is actually on their schedule. People pay up front and drive around the side to pick up. LOL, not having that sort of thing in Germany, you might be appalled at how entitled some people are. I’m middle-aged, so I’m friendly and helpful, but I ain’t getting treated like a slave.

Have to admit, I’ve been a low-key ass to some who annoy me. “Man! How are you going to get this unloaded?!” Subtext being: “You’re too much of a pussy to pick it up. How are you going to actually use it?”

Disagreed. Say rape it that’s what is meant. Struggle fucking is rape play, and not even necessarily rough, weird as that sounds.

OTOH, I can see it being used as a euphemism. Never read it in that context though.

Grateful you’ve written all this, and I read every word and upvoted every post.

If you’re not American, you sure know our history!

Maybe I missed it, but again, give out fluctuating politics, why would anyone build factories here? If we had a hard line on tariffs, were willing to eat the short term pain, and stuck with it, I can see results. Looking at it from a capitalist’s point of view, all I see is wild risk, better to hold my cards for now.

And thank you! I merely followed directions, my first real IT job. But I’m proud to say I was there! As a private if not a general.

Just reading this. I’m not seeing the distinction between judges and courts. Judges are the sole despots in their court. “I AM the law!”, kinda thing. What am I missing?

Figured I’d get a bunch of, “yeah, money, Botox, rich, yadda yadda yadda…” Of course that’s a thing, but still, my mom was balls out hot until she hit 60 or so, straight downhill, while still trying to look younger. Reba got some genes to fit those jeans.

You second phrase got me giggling for the first time today. Picturing a dude trying to dance around in a 2’x2’ stall, nowhere to hike a leg up, can’t look down without bonking his head on the wall, “Ah fuck all this!”

Love bugs are top of mind when I think about this shit. When I moved here 20-years ago they were straight obnoxious. And YES! People advised me to get the guts off my clear coat ASAP. As you said, acidic little fuckers.

Last year I saw some in the driveway, didn’t realize it was that September already. “Ah hell, here we go.” That was the last of them I saw in 2024. I expect none, or close enough, this year.

As @prettybunnys said, it doesn’t have to be a negative. Worked at a family business where every family member got a shot at working there. Almost every single one of them was more than competent. The ones that were not got fired. LOL, by their dad.

And they didn’t treat an outsider like me with any less respect. Hell, I pissed the aforementioned dad off and he damned near fired me. Fired his son instead.

Yes! In some cases you could make a point strong enough to call in enforcement. What I had in mind was the random crap pictured in the post.

So, are you finding that it stays cleaner? I don’t want it to be my imagination, but I seem to be making an impact. And the rare people who see my crawl out of those woods always see me with trash bags.

It’s private property, but I think of my self as the unofficial park ranger. Hopefully if anyone bitches I can point to my work. Also, I don’t want to lose the privilege of wandering around out there, figure if we don’t fuck it up, and in fact improve it, no one will complain.