What a fucking stupid period of history to live through
this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
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politics
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Shouldn't have wished to live in more interesting times.
If only the times we lived in were actually interesting instead of boring, tedious, and deadly.
Even the rockets and global satellite internet thing that objectively is kind of awesome is completely ruined by just having the worst people involved. Although I guess it's classic USA to have your rockets being built by Nazis.
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department, " says Wernher von Braun.
Just wanted to point out how awesome Tom Lehrer (wikipedia) is as a musician/satirist/teacher as well as just a decent human -- he relinquished all copyright ownership over his music catalog and currently* has his songs, sheet music and lyrics available for free download at https://tomlehrersongs.com/.
Here's the link to Wernher Von Braun where the parent lyrics come from.
*At the bottom of the homepage is the note:
NOTICE:
THIS WEBSITE WILL BE SHUT DOWN AT SOME DATE IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE, SO IF YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING, DON’T WAIT TOO LONG.
Eh, I'm done thinking rockets are awesome. We're busy burning the one planet we have down and we're not learning enough in my opinion from space science to be justifying the pollution it creates. The Starlink satellites are creating way more space junk than we need and risk creating a Kessler syndrome.
We can worry about space when we've handled climate change and mass extinction and topsoil depletion and so on. Until then, it's just wasting fucking time and energy.
Yeah, I'm leaning towards the same, even though I loved all this space stuff as a kid. Not wanting to sound overly dramatic, but it's like seeing Musk stealing your childhood or something like that.
The Starlink satellites are creating way more space junk than we need and risk creating a Kessler syndrome.
Sorta good news on that front. Starlink satellites are in such a low orbit that without regular boosting of their orbit they re-enter in short measure. The bad news is that means there are hundreds of pounds of e-waste re-entering and burning up on a regular basis and there have been studies suggesting it's damaging the ozone layer.
What this reminds me of is all the fucking weirdoes, scam artists, racists, and conspiracy theorists that came to prominence during Obama's campaign and during his two terms, being put in office as donvict's revenge against smart people that laughed at him. Donvict looked around at things like Failin' Palin and Michele Bachmann and the circus of the teabaggers and thought - "I want people like those people to have power"
Remember Orly Taitz? A podcast I listened to did a "where are they now?" on that clown, and she is still alive. I'm surprised dipshit donvict didn't give her a role in his maladministration. My guess is that she was more or less laughed off the TV at some point and donvict forgot about her, but donvict, who engaged in the exact same birther bullshit, was given a platform, so he bullshitted his way into office on white male anger over the fact that Obama got TWO terms and no, he wasn't a "Kenyan usurper".
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pRoSeCuTe fAuCi
What a bunch of fuckin rubes, we just put all the people who should be prosecuted in charge.
America always does the right thing. After it has tried everything else.
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I am not a prognosticator, I can't say how bad things will get. I can say that Covid didn't just magically disappear, and Bird Flu won't just go away. The reality is ignoring zoonotic pathogens is a surefire way to kill off a large portion of the population. RFK Jr is just another old fucking shit bag that wants to be right even if he is wrong and who doesn't care if his ignorance or self-righteousness kills you or anyone else. Your health is not his priority. His wealth and power are where his priorities lie. Please take care of yourselves and don't rely on a person with a letter by their name or fame and fortune to save you, they won't. Check on your loved ones, volunteer to help those vulnerable, and be empathetic and kind and we will get through this. Good luck.
Edit: I wanted to expand on the bird flu comment, as a couple of DMs pointed out there have been no sustained human-to-human transmissions of H5N1 to date.
A Science study published in December 2024 identified a single amino acid mutation, Q226L, in the hemagglutinin (HA) protein of H5N1. This mutation increases the virus's affinity for human-type receptors. While it does not enable human-to-human transmission, the virus’s capacity to mutate—especially with prolonged exposure—means it could potentially evolve in that direction.
This concern is underscored by the 2012 Erasmus Medical Center study, where gain-of-function experiments in ferrets demonstrated how easily H5N1 could acquire airborne transmissibility. Combine that with the risk of reassortment with H1N1 or H3N2, and the potential for an H5Nx strain to emerge becomes a legitimate concern.
That said, this is speculative, and I am neither a virologist nor a doctor. Please don't take this as a prediction or diagnosis—just an example of a "what-if" scenario from an old South Texas peckerwood who reads too much.
He is also missing pieces of his brain ... Just reminding people he claimed to have a brain eating worm.
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THIS ASSHOLE AGAIN.
Imagine a world where this asshat managed to hold up the lifesaving vaccination. The fact that donvict killed more Americans than anyone else in history infuriates me as it is, but the fact that dickhead thinks he has standing for something like this. Just the fucking balls. The sense of fucking baseless entitlement ....JFC.
Is he turning orange now too?
There is a minimum required amount of bronzer you're required to apply to be accepted into the MAGA leadership. See also the transformation Ron DeSantis pulled.
Welcome to MAGA, here's your starter kit which includes a 1-month supply of bonzer, coupons valid to purchase food a McDonald's and a scalpel to remove any empathy you may still have in you.
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Deep (tan) state
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Alls ya need is a horse paste and bleach cocktail
I'll take mine on the rocks. lol.
Cloud you spread mine along a florescent bulb and let me deep throat it? Gotta get the light involved too.
You’re not gonna believe your luck, it’s a full flourescent spitroast!
Such great good fortune!
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What was RFK’s end game? Watching a large slice of doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists die off?
The insidious piece here is that healthcare was COVID vaccine prioritized and thus the biggest beta test ever. A 2-for-1 special of sorts. Happily, that beta test worked out. At this point the testing sample and time frame is robust, and the tech used for the COVID vaccine has led to an experimental cancer vaccine. The man needs to chill and let science keep hold of the wheel. The vaccine kept the bulk of the healthcare industry working instead of quitting. Hospitals stayed open because the vaccine promised a modicum of safety for staff they otherwise would not have had.
In RFK’s version of the pandemic timeline, hospitals shut down due to lack of staff, healthcare worker losses (from quitting, noping out, illness, and death) soar, and people suffocate to death at home in a horrific state of panic. RFK would likely make an appearance on Joe Rogan to say that an all natural organic death at home is preferable to vaccines.
What was RFK’s end game?
What do you think goes on in the mind of someone with a dead brain worm?
Sometimes, the simplest answer is the most plausible answer.
I hear the brain worm died because it starved
If I was a brain worm that had taken control of a US politician, the first thing I would do is say that the worm is dead.
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I don't think he has one. He's one of those people convinced of their rightness and will see it through no matter the suffering it causes, no matter the demonstrable harm he has already done. In a sane world this kook bastard would be laughed at and ignored, minimizing his ability to harm anyone. Or better yet charged with culpable homicide. Instead he'll put in a position that allow him to harm EVERYONE.
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Again, remind me why you didn't vote because of Kamala's stance on the Palestinian genocide and because she was picked without a primary election when the alternative was this?
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Ok so, when you intend to run a dictatorship and let people suffer at the expense of idiots with actual dead brain worms in their head it's important to remember that if you kill off people's children and loved ones and others survive - the ones that survive typically lose their "civility" and take matters into their own hands.
All it takes is one member of the secret service to lose someone that matters to them by something this administration causes for the administration to be done with.
At some point, the people guarding the vault will realize that they can distribute the vault amongst themselves and get rid of the individual who owns the vault.
I was just discussing this with a conservative relative. It’s meet in the middle in dead agreement territory.
A lot if the tariffed Chinesium is going to be PC parts. Think of your mouse. I paid $10 for my ergonomic mouse with extra buttons. I had to replace it last year and it was $15. The guesstimates have prices doubled. Who wants to pay $30 for an $10 mouse? Those increases add up in trying to keep your entertainment source alive. My point is people already can’t buy groceries.
They’re working very hard to shut down streaming sites like fmovies. Everything has subscription fee now, even single news articles. Again, people can’t afford to buy groceries.
The last time people were bored with nothing left to do we had riots. In the name of a cause that deserved justice, yes, but the not having anything else to do part contributed a lot to the number of people outside, and stealing diapers.
They’re creating an environment that will prime people for pushing back by simply taking away free and cheap entertainment.
Pushing further on the rest (groceries, healthcare, workers rights) is just an ignition switch. We all feel it. That’s the sense of impending doom thats been lurking all year.
Healthcare upheaval would be a societal nuke at this point.
And yet that’s where Trump wants to go. And that’s where my conservative relative and I split. Oh no, T is going to solve the problems. Seriously. That was said.
So politically, we agree an ignition point is approaching. We don’t agree on whether Trump will ignite it or diffuse it.
Interesting times suck.
They're are only two things I can guarantee Trump desires: self-preservation, and his daughter.
He wanted the presidency to avoid prison and it worked. I assume he'll use the military to protect himself and his interests above anything else.
After that? I don't really think he cares.
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Good luck America, the lunatics are running the asylum and that’s not going to be good for anyone.
Gonna be an interesting few years if you get another pandemic. The man is batshit.
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RFK jr. is an example of how ignorance is in itself a great evil.
We’re so fucked.
That would count as attempted murder in thousands of cases.
This guy needs to eat a lot more roadkill
Wtf happened to his skin? When you look like that you don't get to talk about health, get healthcare yourself first. He looks like he literally got roasted
14 years of heavy heroin addiction leaves a toll. Kudos for him for getting clean, but also its reasonable to think that massive iv drug use at a young age causes developmental deficits.
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When stupid meets power, everybody loses. Usually except the rich.
He wasn't in power then. I'm fine with screwballs testing to the system to keep it honest. Now he's about to be head of the Department of Health & Human Services. That is deeply concerning.
This is terrible news, if he bans vaccines I hope there would be a massive petition for many states to join Canada.
Chevron could actually save us here since courts, not agencies can ultimately decide policy. This could be their entire strategy to "prove" that they were right.
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