There’s a lot of this assumption that democrats get more votes by going for moderates. Meanwhile they’ve alienated the entire left, and (I know, not a representative sample) but my Lemmy feed is jam packed with arguments about “you have to vote blue to stop fascism” vs “I really don’t don’t want to vote in favor of genocide”. No one seems to actually like the democrats, they’re whole appeal is basically “not fascist”.

Bernie Sanders got people excited, and while not exactly a leftist, he did represent a move toward the left. But they couldn’t let Bernie happen, he was too radical, apparently. You’ve heard the term “Bernie bro”, but where are the Biden bros? They aren’t, because Joe is boring.

So I don’t think they “have to worry about moderates”. The post here claims that if they could motivate people to go vote, they’d win. So offer something fresh. Present a real alternative to the inexorable right wing decline of all of US politics. Do you not think that would work? Why are they 0% willing to consider it?

Land of the free, eh?

Oh yeah, kind of like how fans re-edited One Piece to remove filler and improve the pacing. I wonder if something similar could be done to merge the two FMAs? Unfortunately I think most of the fanbase just thinks Brotherhood is it, and the original doesn’t matter, so I don’t know think there’s much demand for this.

This is what I did, would also recommend. I don’t even think Brotherhood is better, the original has some really strong points.

Oooh I’ve been eagerly awaiting season 2 of Arcane. Hadn’t seen the release date yet. Excited now. 😸

I’ve been wanting to re-watch firefly lately. It’s short but there’s just so much in it. It’s one of two shows I’ve watched start-to-finish more than once.

And since we’re here for recommendations…the other show I’ve watched more than once is Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. Based on a book by Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) it’s charming and insane in ways you might expect if you’re familiar with Hitchhiker’s Guide but it’s absolutely not predictable either. So much fun. (Available on Netflix (in Canada…last I checked))

Every accusation is a confession…

Suddenly it makes sense why they’re so terrified of anyone outside the gender binary.

I can’t trust a car no matter how Japanese it is, but… I watched a lil docuseries on dangerous roads, and it seemed like at least 80% of the vehicles (outside of heavy trucks) were Toyota. I dunno if it’s because they’re the most reliable, or because Toyota just has the market in many of these developing countries, but it was interesting.

Canada is killing it. We added Nunavut a while ago to make 13 provinces/territories and continue to have a Prime Minister.

Well, I am always looking for book recommendations… I’ll put this on my list 🙂

I wish people didn’t have such a tendency to think of things as binary, when basically nothing is. It’s super unhelpful.

When I worked for a guy who kept chickens in the back yard, the eggs came out in every shade from dark brown to white, and some had freckles. I don’t know how they get them to be just two uniform colours (brown/white) in the grocery store, but I assume the white ones must be bleached. Some are naturally brown, others may be dyed.

But I agree that we should be suspicious whenever marketing is involved.

May he have pineapples shoved up his arse in hell, right next to old hitler.

Oh interesting, I’ve never really delved past the movies.

They did also choose to humanize a storm trooper with Finn in the new films, but I don’t remember him going through any “deprogramming” or anything, he just kinda realizes he’s a nice guy one day.

It would have been much more interesting to see him struggle with his changing worldview.

That’s exactly what my interpretation was.

You’ve leaped to the notion that Chinese trains are somehow an untested technology. They’re using technologies that have been developed and tested around the world for well over a century. No one is perfect, but they do seem to be implementing them quite well.

The funny thing about your car analogy is, guess what? China makes cars too! And they’re getting solid safety ratings: https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/byd/seal/50012

Nuh-uh, Xi pressed the big red communism button and now all the capitalism is gone!

[is joke, obviously that’s not how it works]

“It’s just never worked” is ignorant though. Every nation that has tried to dump capitalism has has successes and failures, and there are many factors that contribute to each. Economies are extremely complex and you simply can’t say anything intelligent without getting at least a bit more in-depth than “works/doesn’t work”.

You’ve seen the tracks so smooth a coin doesn’t fall over at 300km/h and you call that “awful at building infrastructure”? Curious.

But they’re fast, so it must be poor quality, right? The appeal to “just think about it” without seeking actual information is a classic.

The USA and the international institutions they control have done an impressive job making it look like open markets equals prosperity, but when you look just under the surface, a different picture emerges.

Vietnam, for example, was denied access to IMF loans, while trying to rebuild after an absolutely brutal war that basically set them back to the stone age. Only once they agreed to certain liberal reforms were they allowed access to the funds and resources they needed.

If you’re not really paying attention, it looks like you’re right.

That’s true, the storm troopers and stuff are basically presented as automatons. I guess some audiences like not having to think, but it would have been much more impactful to show them as people with their own beliefs and motivations and stuff.