It was a brilliant bit of theater, just like their mass drone response to Israel’s last provocation.

In both cases now, Iran has managed to make Israel, and now the US, look both antagonistic and foolish. Their precisely measured responses really highlight the fact that they didn’t provoke either of these fights, that they have no intention of engaging in pointless bloodshed, but that, if pressed, they can and will respond in kind.

It makes them look like the only adults in the room.

Israel is a rogue state.

And this is why DOGE gutted the Office for Vehicle Automation Safety at the NHTSA.

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As the proud owner of a Santa Claus beard (though in color and texture, it’s more of a Grizzly Adams beard) I would say that the most important thing is to turn the care over to a professional. Just like your hair, don’t attempt to manage it yourself (beyond washing, combing and the like). Find a stylist who also does beards and go on a regular schedule and have them trim it and maintain it. And they’ll also be able to tell you if you need to do something special to care for it.

And…?

You’re talking about two different things.

Context was the idea of a government banning certain popular foods

This would mean they’d be against food safety regulations, would it not?

It’s entirely possible to be in favor of food safety regulations and opposed to the government banning foods outright. In fact, I think one could safely presume that those are the positions most commonly held by most people.

It’s not that they’re truly synonymous but that each also implies the other. If it’s true that he’s dead, then it’s also true that he died and vice versa. So it seems like they mean the same thing because if ypu say one, it can be taken for granted that the other is necessarily also true.

But even that’s not 100% - it’s possible that “he died” is true but “he’s dead” is not, since he might’ve been revived. That illustrates the fact that they actually each communicate something different - “he died” is an experience through which he went at some point, while “he’s dead” is the state he’s in right now.

So again, they broadly communicate the same thing since saying one implies the other as well, but they don’t actually mean the same thing.

I keep wondering the same thing.

It’s especially galling when I see some cautionary piece in the legacy media about how some Republican policy “might” lead to some negative consequences. As if the Republicans are unaware of that and it’s up to the media to gently nudge them and point it out.

The Republicans are fully aware of the harm their policies are going to do and that’s much of the point. They quite simply want everyone who’s not one of them to die. They’re not only okay with that - they’re eagerly looking forward to it.

Heathers changed my world in more ways than one.

Imagine not recognizing that central authority is the problem.

To the degree that fascism has a distinctive economic system, one of its most notable qualities is a combination of private ownership of the means of producton with government/corporate partnership and a “revolving door” by which powerful individuals pass back and forth between business and political leadership positions.

Because fuck the surveillance state.

If only it was that simple…

At the least, some considerable part of the problem is that angry, stupid bigots who used to be mostly limited to cringey drunken solo rants are now able to network with each other and cheer on each other’s anger and stupidity and bigotry.

I was with you right up until the end.

Hillary’s gender is a weak excuse that the DNC and the establishment Dems trot out to try to duck the blame for sabotaging a sincere progressive in order to run a neolib weasel who gives paid speeches to international bankers and idolizes Kissinger.

That thread is creepy.

Trump not only promised to bring down prices, but promised to do so “on day one.” In fact, in the final days of the campaign, that was likely the promise he repeated the most.

So not only is he somewhere between delusional and dishonest (which I already knew), but every single person who responded to insist rising prices is indeed what they signed up for is also somewhere between delusional and dishonest.

Why? What compels them? What do they expect to gain?

I’m beginning to suspect that there’s some environmental factor or something in the US that makes people delusional, angry and stupid, because this has gone way beyond anything that can be explained by political partisanship alone.

Discworld, no contest.

A notable intrinsic dodge bonus.

Decent but not great healing, blessing, persuasion, rally, calm, etc.

More or less neitral disposition with virtually everyone, save only the most extreme pro- or anti-religious.

Surprisingly good hand-to-hand combat, but only under duress and/or drunk.

It’s those roughly squared off, dirty, slushy heaps of packed snow that were plowed out of the way after the snowfall and are the only thing left after the rest of the snow has melted.