you (yes, you in particular) are the reason why STP was invented.

I would normally suggest that this is more “networking porn”, but its just way too fetishistic for regular consumption. you animal!

branding is important, yo!

these days old onion articles are prophecy and new onion articles cant even give me a raised eyebrow.

this is/does both.

there are reasons for that.

the past 8 years has realigned my view of the american electorate. policy and leadership are now inseparable from politics and politicians. public exposure to anything non-culture war related is pretty carefully managed and curated.

so I say “scaramucchi is an asshole but for 30 seconds he’s our asshole” and, as a known quantity, can be jettisoned pretty painlesslely.

and my reasoning… apparently there is limited downside and some upside to this stupid, juvenile “owning” your opponent bs. it sucks the oxygen out of any gathering where the IQ is sub-room temperature - and the irony of a little political asphyxiation for trump is quite delicious.

we need to continue skating to where the puck will be and I don’t see the current electorate changing trajectory until after the 2026 mid-terms at the earliest.

edit: ok, I enjoy a good juvenile roast as well, but would like some policy with my persnickety, please.

its only Tuesday… let me be all hand wavey, damnit! but here goes…

tl;dr - a few specifics. lots of nebulous warm and fuzzies. leaves everyone to fill in blanks. we went through this recently with obama - and I don’t like it.

Cut Taxes for Middle Class Families

• reasonable section with at least one defined commitment
• “…no one earning less than $400,000 a year will pay more in taxes” - detailed proposal link?

Make Rent More Affordable and Home Ownership More Attainable

• “…comprehensive plan to build three million more rental units and homes” - proposal link?
• “…first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 to help with their down payments, with more generous support for first-generation homeowners” - how… executive order? legislation? we have seen how difficult the student loan fight is. detailed proposal link?

Grow Small Businesses and Invest in Entrepreneurs

• reasonable section with at least one defined commitment
• “expand the startup expense tax deduction for new businesses from $5,000 to $50,000” - detailed proposal link?

Take on Bad Actors and Bring Down Costs

• this section was a complete throwaway for me - no defined / specific goals.

Strengthen and Bring Down the Cost of Health Care

• reasonable section with multiple defined commitments
• “…expanding and strengthening the Affordable Health Care Act” - with resistant state governors? future federal carrots and sticks? what are they? give me one thing I can shut down my Republican uncle with at thanksgiving

Protect and Strengthen Social Security and Medicare

• did my browser not render all of the text?!
• *sigh*

Support American Innovation and Workers

• first half touting biden-harris accomplishments - ok, fair.
• specific legislation named - 👍
• “…fight to raise the minimum wage, end sub-minimum wages for tipped workers” - this one is pretty important (micro, macro, all-ro), where are the $ amounts?

Provide a Pathway to the Middle Class Through Quality, Affordable Education

• 70% of this is retrospective - ok, fair, but…
• every forward looking statement is nebulous.

Invest in Affordable Child Care and Long Term Care

• mentioned american rescue plan - 👍
• browser must not have rendered all of the text again, because… you know, nothing.

Lower Energy Costs and Tackle the Climate Crisis

• no actual commitment made at all
• “…record energy production” - this is the slickness I am talking about… via fossil or renewable? whats the mix? cant pin me down!

running out of time and space, but hopefully that gives you the gist of what I thought while reading.

edit: typos. formatting.

yeah - agreed. thats why I am not the target audience. I want a little more wonkery in there (even if as just links in the text body) so I am probably an outlier.

as long as people agree that my initial read is a reasnable one (slick, with attractive shapes and edges) then its all good.

I have to say, it seems like the kamala-walz campaign has been near flawless on messaging so far and it feels like a facsimile of the Obama energy, not the same, but damn if it is not familiar.

I think the timing of this also also near perfect - close enough to the election for a sustained honeymoon and far enough away to effectively build brand and messaging. if kamala does.well in the debate, I really think the visible vote (polling data) continues to move to kamala.

couple of points.

1. I hit the site on mobile with the usual browser shields up and everything on the linked page worked with zero effort
2. lite on detail

lovely that the site is likely to work for the lowest common denominator modern browser - I mean seriouly that could scare up a few hundred distracted voter ballots in a tight race.

I am not the target audience for this platform presentation, but it was clean, with tight easily digestible copy and smooth delivery. if I were an “undecided” but turned off by “those two wierd dudes”, I could possibly see myself clicking with this.

so policy sparse, likable generic democrat it is - reasonable angle for her to take because I think she can actually ride the feelz into the whitehouse.

however, everyone disgusted by the last 44 years* of world history better have their hopium / copium handy.

* time began when ronnie squelched his way into the WH

unqualified internet rando comment…

avoiding responsibility is a coping mechanism as well as a symptom for a host of significant, but treatable, physiological psychological issues. couple this with a demonstrated history of physical violence (I am trusting the state on this one) makes this difficult.

my own experience suggests to me that you may want to ensure that your brother is consistently seeing a qualified professional and an effective medication regime is in place, being followed to the letter and has demonstrated positive results before you reengage. without 3rd party qualified professional help things are not likely to get better and may get worse.

I am sorry you, your brother and those around this situation are hurting. please stay safe.

edit: emphasis on word and autocorrect.

appropriately biting article.

/me gives a knowing head nod.

until we all learn to separate our identities from our politics from our technology, it will likely stay this way online.

for the record I will second your positive experience report regarding lemmy[.]ml - its diverse, (relatively) active, well federated and technically administered, runs bleeding edge server builds and is mostly drama free. cant think of much else I could ask for from a lemmy instance.

:-x

the Rust kernel could be many years away from being finished.

the number I saw floating around was 3 years to production useful. regardless, C’s end days as the go-to, large systems level language are drawing nigh.

edit: tear

I consider this a useless skill

I dont know, friend. thats a bit of a step up from the usual party trick.

best I’ve got is zero lead hand/leg preference when sparring muay thai. makes me a real lonely or a real popular dance partner depending on the crowd.

asm? ha! back in my day we were hammering ones and zeros into clay tablets.

what next level fuckery is this?! the text was perfectly spaced to elicit maximum mental “pop” when transitioning between foreground->background->foreground.

my squinty eyes are now upon you.

but, seriously. very cool.

that thing you do when you are absolutely, positively, without a doubt, 100% sure you can fuck shit up even more.

…that wireless mac is looking suspiciously shopped and non-existent.

ASCII is a like — a state of mind, man! :-)