This one so absolutely fucking much, holy shit. After a year of dating apps and literally only getting one actual conversation (that didn’t go anywhere, but they were very nice) I’ve pretty much just said fuck it, I do well enough being a hermit I don’t need to be dating.
Frankly a lot less stress.
Oh no, instead she has step-children so was referred to as a “Childless cat lady” by checks notes the running mate of the opposing party.
The only place to the conservative crowd for a woman to be in is in a single relationship with her own kids. Though I’m sure they’d have a way to gripe about it too.
This… is difficult.
See, the oligarchs love Putin because he keeps them wealthy and comfortable at the cost of his people. If I come in and start helping my people, it’ll come from the oligarchs, then they’ll turn on me. Which comes to the other Putin thing, he’s absolutely feared in Russia. Someone annoys him, polonium tea. To those that are absolutely loyal to him, he has an iron fist with a velvet glove. To those not in positions of power, the glove isn’t there. That’s what his power is.
I’d like to think I’m cutthroat if it were in the name of good… but we’re talking Ex-KGB with top tier paranoia, deservedly earned. I’m pretty sure Putin-Me would have a “self inflicted gunshot” to the back of the head within hours.
I mean 2 parts. 1: Ukraine is fighting off a bigger countries tanks with Molotovs.
2: Logistics, supplies, etc is a HELL of a fight in two directions and the US has a hell of a home field advantage. If someone (I’m going to say from the Asian continent for this argument) any supplies they want has to cross the ocean. Then right now unless we do something to massively piss them off, we’ve got allies to the north and south so no country is giving a foothold next door (This is why South Korea and Japan being allies is important to the US, and why China really likes North Korea being there. So far the only foothold the biggest enemies to the US can get is Cuba… which right now involves circling the globe the even longer way).
But now our hypothetical military force has beaten back the US navy which is filling the oceans with all sorts of attacks, they get to the shores where they contend with the US Coast Guard, the US’s second navy. That gets beaten back, and now the land war has started. Lets say they take LA and that’s where the invasion is starting.
“Defeating” the US Military is truly a defeat of the US because now it’s a home front war. You’ll have the US military fighting on US soil, which I think the last time that happened was the civil war (correct me if I’m wrong), the Reserves are getting called in. Then even before you get to the “random guys with guns” the actual US militia gets mobilized where the National Guards of each state is called in. And you better believe they’ll definitely take their gun nutty neighbors in this because the national guard works day to day in civilian world.
So now we’ve gotten to logistics. The US likes to beat its chest when it comes to military, but the true might of the US in history has been logistics of “We need x here today” and we can ship troops to the other side of the globe faster than Amazon can deliver a package to a doorstep in country. The US has a robust interstate system, designed after the autobahn of Germany for the same purpose, moving hardware. So whatever military is fighting now has to contend with whatever front line is existing getting supplied by the factories in the middle of the country with semis running supplies daily as well as military hardware from the side of the country not getting attacked at the moment (I live near multiple military bases that’s as far from any border as one can logically get, where there’s tank divisions just waiting).
But we’re calling a defeat scenario for the US, so the hypothetical beats back the US military, who’s probably tearing apart the infrastructure as it backs up if it’s smart and plays like the Russians do. Granted the US doesn’t have a Russian Winter, but if you’re coming from the West you have the Rockies, coming from the East you have the Appalachians. Mountain ranges that makes mobilization difficult if the infrastructure is fucked, but the infrastructure is fine on the other side.
I legit cannot imagine a country, even the US, with the infrastructure to break through that wall scenario delivering hardware across the world.
But hey, we don’t have to talk a complete invasion of the US. Just some area. Remember, many US states are as big as countries, especially the western ones. So an invasion happens, now you’re dealing with large swaths of territory. Russia had trouble with the Finns in the Winter War, with Russia being right next door because the Finns didn’t just up and fight the major people. No they’d let tank battalions pass, then when the logistics crew following the battalions showed up they’d get sniped. Or the US tried to fight in Vietnam and were beaten back by civilians. Or occupied Afghanistan and ultimately the Taliban managed to regain control. Occupation is REALLY hard because even for a small territory you have to have a large soldier to civilian ratio for those “military grade” weapons and tactics to beat civilians (the difference between a “military grade” AR-15 and a civilian one is the ability to turn it to fully automatic. That is something that modifications exist to do.) And if an invasion is coming I guarantee you every Scheels, Bass Pro, Cabelas, Academy Sports, and every mom and pop gun store will be having a fire sale on ammunition.
TLDR: It would be a logistical hurdle to even shut down US military bases before reaching one of the mountain ranges, while the US would be sitting in its logistics hub. Invading forces only really truly succeed historically long term when the civilians are on the side of the invaders because occupying long term is really hard, and I think you’re underestimating the military logistics of a country that has ammunition vending machines.
And while the Navy is brought up, lets not forget the Coast Guard.
While the Coast Guard is joked about as dollar store Navy, it’s a legit military service that has been actively at war against drug smugglers past few years, but gets sent over in previous wars to fight in riverways. This gives the US navy the entire pacific to fight against Russia, and when they do get to the US, there’s a second home based one under a completely different administration to fight at the shores.
Pretty much post Roe v Wade she’s been out at the very forefront on the abortion debate because Biden being a catholic and male was about the worst possible person to put on this, vs Harris’s main job was to show the White House’s position on it.
Oh, not been in the news… right. Same news that’ll talk Biden’s age all day, not Trump’s age or his lies.
Left leaning here, dunno about you, but run channels with other left leaning progressives. I’m on a border between two states, I make it a point that my state when state/local stuff comes up, I get the news out, I get the word out, I try to drum up voting. Anyone in the other state, a massive collective ‘meh’. Same comes with the local votes.
“But Bernie” is the cry.
Voting isn’t just about the damn presidency. It’s a shit slog from the lowest levels all the way up and all the crowd I know in the left leaning can’t be faffed to show up for anything local so of course it’s going to be centrist on the top. The reason the right wing has so much power is they’ve made it a point since the Reagan era that anyone without an ® after their name WILL NOT run uncontested even it if it’s a superintendent to a school.
Yes, the Democrats are run by centrists because that’s who shows up to all the elections no matter how small or petty, but the lefts show up at Presidential elections and whinge about how nothing changes.
I hope I’m preaching to the choir when it comes to voting on the small elections, but unless you’re in a very different place than I am, if you did you’d pretty quickly notice you’re the rare leftist there.
Hillary in her campaign was focused on removing Citizens United.
After she lost, hasn’t been brought back up again.
I believe the response is in the territory of just because it’s bad now doesn’t mean it won’t get so much worse.
I mean, I’m amazed we’re not 1st in incarceration… and Project 2025 thinks that’s losers numbers.
I mean… worse is different.
ACLU didn’t say we’re going from a shining world to bad… they’re saying “OH BOY IF YOU THINK THINGS ARE BAD NOW!”
At this point there’s a con happening all over the country all throughout the year. Dunno where “south” is for you but the big one I know about is Texas Furry Fiesta in Dallas in March.
Granted Texas has like 4 of them going nowadays by itself lol.
I have the aftershockz Air. Aftershockz as a company apparently changed and went to Shockz when I got my second set so there I got the openrun. I still find my using the Air for my work time which is my more used one, but I think I got used to the fit of it (ran with those for like 3 years) but the openrun works pretty well IMO.
I realize I’m late to the response but the Democrat campaign in Missouri is captured by the DNC which is walking in step with Biden. Last senate campaign we had a choice on the democrats side between a left leaning former marine and pushed major antitrust policies or… an heiress to the biggest beer company in the country.
I’ll let you guess who the DNC and the campaigns assigned to our state backed. I’ll not even count the first two guesses.
I’ll toss in as I have two, a set at home and at work.
For music, they’re honestly kinda meh. They’ll get the job done if you want some music but lets be frank you’ll find better sound quality headphones out there.
The reason I absolutely find them game changers is they allow me to wear them when I’m at work. I work on mechanical equipment in hospitals, so I need to hear what’s going on around me, one earbud can block up a side but this means I can hear when someone is talking to me. Also I found that earbuds didn’t fit me well so would potentially fall out, these wrap around the back of the head and stay in place, even when I’m working in some strange positions. And when I’m pulling out the power tools and things are going to be loud, I stick in earplugs, and I can hear what I’m listening to better even.
Phone work, I was shocked because my last job I was in a cargo van with minimal insulation so A LOT of road noise, but I’d hear the person I’m talking to with little issue and they could hear me well. Makes hands free phones a lot better.
I listen to podcasts, audiobooks, and the like. I mean chew through so many of them it’s not even funny. Because of that sometimes I found with the single earbud one you’d have something in stereo, well that single earbud messes it up and you gotta set it to a mono sound. These you’ve got that dynamic sound going.
So in short, if you’re going for audiophile level stuff, pass on these, but for daily drivers in day to day life they’re on the top ten things I’ve ever bought.
Pen, pocket journal, wallet, phone, and whichever pocket knife I grab that day.
I’m really a simple person, but I"m going to go into my favorite pocket knife and I’m angry that it’s not made anymore. The SOG Q2. It’s a “baton” shape" IE, slightly longer than a standard pen. Has a flashlight, bottle opener (with flatehead screwdriver, in other words beveled the bottle opener) and knife. The opening mechanism is such I’ve never had it accidentally come open on me, can be opened one handed, and to keep it from closing you’re literally holding the body that goes over the knife.
That’s not cool man…
They said medieval, that is way too late.
Same *from Missouri.
I remember a time when I thought Captain Planet villains were hyperbole.
FFXIV.
Would I be the Warrior of Light or some random scrub? Random scrub that world has godlike beings that just absolutely dominate your will just by existing, plus just massive monsters, and some terrifying organizations.
WoL, hooboy all the moments the story made me be quiet.
Another question is do I go as myself, or can I be a catgirl?