AcidicBasicGlitch

coups aren't reserved just for autocratic regime's like Iran's.

I think I'm picking up what you're putting down, and yeah I agree. Any suggestions for how to prepare for a work around?

heavily censored in any country undergoing a coup attempt.

I guess it could be way worse, but the internet is already a different place than it was this time last year.

Hopefully, I just don't put it past him to be envisioning ~~a false flag~~ something happening over the next 2 weeks that will suddenly help gain public support for/ allow the U.S. to have a reason to retaliate against Iran.

The comment seems to be saying they could do better? I sincerely believe this is one of the best novelty t-shirts I have ever seen. I guess I'm maybe looking at this from a different POV?

Idk if you've heard of Krewe du Vieux Carré? Usually just called Krewe du Vieux, or sometimes just affectionately called Krude. It's a Mardi gras Krewe that has a parade every year through the FQ. The point is supposed to be over the top adult humor, and that vibe has always been extended to the quarter in general, especially other neighborhood parades and celebrations.

I would shake my head at someone wearing something like this to the zoo or even an uptown parade, but in context this is like wearing a satirical costume.

The FQ during a parade or festival is one place where you would see a guy in a mustache rides shirt and nobody would judge/think twice bc there's a hundred other dudes in mustache rides shirts or other crude outfits. Fewer women, but it happens occasionally if they are with a bachelorette party. I've seen gay dudes wearing crude shirts, but I cannot recall ever seeing a lesbian in a shirt that somehow openly conveys sexuality and captures the same level of crude. Honestly believe this is kind of a masterpiece and would like to grab drinks with this person bc they look like they would be fun AF to hang out with.

Oh yeah, hadn't even thought about that big beautiful wall (BBW) in a few years. Kinda got buried in the chaos. And

When I clicked on the link and saw the image of the wall that just abruptly ends, my mind auto played the music from Idiocracy

ICEis doesn't look like they would be as agile on the monkey bars. So, checkmate.

Exactly, especially when you look at how we got here.

The Real Origins of the Religious Right

This should be mandatory reading for all Democrats.

You're competing with advertisement campaigns that were persuasive enough to convince most people to vote for things they didn't even support.

Democrats picked up on the advertising part, but somehow haven't realized that nobody is going to be persuaded by the moderate compromise bullshit. That is exactly what the Republicans were doing when Paul Weyrich got frustrated and started looking to civil rights organizations to strategize a movement to invigorate the right. It was quite successful.

How do you pursuade? You at least pretend you have fucking skin in the game. You worry about your donors and what they will think second to your principles. You at least pretend you care more about what is happening than holding on to a position for 40+ fucking years as the country burns around you.

Weyrich hailed as conservative pioneer

Joining his boss, Colorado Republican Sen. Gordon Allot, one day at a meeting with civil rights and other left-leaning groups, Weyrich watched the liberal activists strategize as a coalition and was inspired to create a parallel apparatus on the right.

“Here, before my eyes, was the whole panoply laid out,” Weyrich told reporter Ron Brownstein years later for a book on the rise of political partisanship in the capital. “I had seen the effectiveness, but I didn’t know the mechanics.”

In 1973, Weyrich co-founded the Heritage Foundation with Edward Feulner, creating what would eventually be the dominant think tank on the conservative landscape. Initially funded by the Coors family, Heritage helped provide ideas and issues to the many young conservatives who were running for office in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and who would eventually become the party’s leaders.

“In the early ‘70s, when most conservatives were reduced to wringing their hands and resigning themselves to life in the political wilderness, Paul just seemed to know what was needed to break the liberal stranglehold,” recalled Feulner.

This is exactly where the Democrats are over 50 years later. Reduced to hand wringing and afraid to step out of line.

There is a reason Weyrich partnered with people like Falwell and used fire and brimstone messaging. It gets attention. It refuses to compromise. It's not worried about saying the wrong thing. It doesn't really matter what you're trying to get people to support. People are compelled to follow it based on the way it makes them feel. The feeling is what convinces.

Weyrich has been dead for almost 2 decades, but people in the White House are continuing to use this same strategy, and usually just recycle his old playbooks bc they're not as smart or creative as this evil bastard was. Take back the fucking narrative!

Red-Letter Christians

Red-Letter Christians is a non-denominational movement within Evangelical Christianity. "Red-Letter" refers to New Testament verses and parts of verses printed in red ink, to indicate the words attributed to Jesus without the use of quotation marks.

The organization was founded by Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne in 2007 with the aim of bringing together evangelicals who believe in the importance of insisting on issues of social justice mentioned by Jesus (in red in some translations of the Bible). They believe Christians should be paying attention to Jesus's words and example by promoting biblical values such as social justice issues. These issues include the fight against poverty, the defense of peace, building strong families, respecting human rights and welcoming foreigners.

Yep, "no reason," and that giant database on all Americans Palantir and all these other tech companies "aren't" helping build is nothing we should be concerned about.

And we're "not going to war with Iran," and Trump planned the military strikes against Iran, but also the U.S. wasn't involved in any way.

Rest assured the only combat these men will see is via drone surveillance feeds from behind a desk.

I can't help but worry though, that in addition to all the concerns about surveillance and privacy, Foundry/the megadatabase being created on all Americans could be used in some pretty horrific ways against individuals that speak out against our new leaders, or individuals that vaguely resemble somebody that spoke out against our elite technologists.

How Israel Uses AI in Gaza—And What It Might Mean for the Future of Warfare

 A program known as “The Gospel” generates suggestions for buildings and structures militants may be operating in. “Lavender” is programmed to identify suspected members of Hamas and other armed groups for assassination, from commanders all the way down to foot soldiers. “Where’s Daddy?” reportedly follows their movements by tracking their phones in order to target them—often to their homes, where their presence is regarded as confirmation of their identity. The air strike that follows might kill everyone in the target's family, if not everyone in the apartment building.

Abraham, whose report relies on conversations with six Israeli intelligence officers with first-hand experience in Gaza operations after Oct. 7, quoted targeting officers as saying they found themselves deferring to the Lavender program, despite knowing that it produces incorrect targeting suggestions in roughly 10% of cases.

Things can change very quickly if there's an "attack" on U.S. soil they totally didn't know about in advance or anything when they signed this.

Federal regulations and protections can get pushed aside real fast in the name of security, especially when you have states like Louisiana already working so closely with DHS.

Or be the public motivation somebody is looking for to join in a war he totally doesn't want to join even though he just handed a bunch of tech bros military seniority roles...