I feel you. I find the best satire usually makes me a bit uneasy and unsure. It took me a second on your post until I looked back at the title.

I wonder if the reaction would have been different if you had put the title in the comic itself instead of just having it as the post title. It’s a small change, but I think it might have been enough. It would be an interesting psychology experiment if you could randomly serve both versions and see how the reaction plays out.

My friends and family absolutely know and see what is happening. When I go to the park and walk, I often hear people talking about what is happening (from the angle of “this is insane; how are they getting away with this.” The lady that manages the corner store that I chat with sees what’s going on. The people I work with are very aware.

Most of the people I know are scared and feel powerless to do anything about it. Of course, some are more aware than others and some are more scared than others, but they are at least moderately aware.

BUT, I live in a very liberal city and the people I just talked about are people I choose to associate with. My sample is heavily skewed.

I also run into a lot of people that are pro Trump. Drive 10 miles outside the city and you start running into a lot more MAGA folks. There are also people that avoid politics and are good at sticking their heads in the sand. Somehow they manage to remain unaware. Ignorance seems to be a concerningly common American trait.

BTW, OP, there’s a good chance the “both sides” people you know are republicans but are embarrassed to admit it. They’re the quiet trumpers — the ones that chose to elect a criminal who tried to violently overthrow the government four years ago. Unlike the rabid, loud MAGA folks, they are uncomfortable talking about this stuff because they know people find their views abhorrent. They use “both sides” as a method to indirectly defend their views without having to admit to having them.

Either that or they’re willfully ignorant about what is going on around them. But I find willfully ignorance and Repubicanism go hand in hand.

In order:

Finished building a wood “skirt” for under my daughter’s bed frame (to prevent her cat from using Underbedland as her jungle gym in the middle of the night). Used 1x5 pine. Cut some decorative edge work on the pieces. I attached the skirt that goes on the long edge of the bed with hinges (recessed into the skirt), so that she can lift up the skirt and store stuff under the bed. I put on magnetic latches so cat can’t do the same. Stained it and finished with polyurethane. It was gold practice on finishing work.

Took apart the passenger door of girlfriend’s truck and fixed a bunch of stuff. I disassembled and cleaned the window switch (yay, the window rolls up again!). Cleaned and lubed the window mechanism. Spliced two cut wires on the door lock. Replaced some missing bolts. Rewrapped wire bundles. Wrapped loose wires. Rerouted wires so they wouldn’t get cut again, made and installed a vapor barrier (the original was MIA). After seeing how bad things were in that door, I need to do the other doors too.

Started some serious setup work on an acoustic guitar (Gibson hummingbird). Fret height was pretty variable. I leveled the frets. Started recrowning all the frets - got through half of them. Once I finish recrowning, Next will be setting neck relief, cutting nut slots deeper (first fret action is currently atrocious), adjusting the bridge down, and maybe some intonation work.

Fully disassembled a Walter Creed 9mm pistol that somehow had sand inside it. Thoroughly cleaned everything, oiled, and reassembled. I seem to have fixed it, but haven’t tested everything yet.

Designed a folding adjustable arm rest to mount on top of the center console of my truck. (Designed, not built. Yet)

I’m curious: is this a major lawsuit waiting to happen, or is the mill somehow protected from that?

I’m picturing a situation where bad steel is provided, used by the purchaser, and later the product they put the steel in fails, causing a serious accident, death, or other severe issue. does the mill’s responsibility somehow end at warranty replacement or have they created a bigger liability for themselves?