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D-Pad posted:So I saw a video earlier today that I can't seem to find again that actually broke this down and said Black Friday was a dud this year. The 7% increase was in online black friday sales while brick and mortar sales were only up 2.5% and that brick and mortar makes up 80% of total black friday sales. The video made the point that when adjusted for inflation total black friday sales were actually down over last year. Anecdotally I did see quite a few videos on social media of retail workers posting videos of empty stores when the doors opened that morning and that the rush never materialized. I wouldn't be surprised. I'd like to see this video if you can find it. EDIT: https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/28/economy/holiday-shopping-economy/index.html Seems like there's been some back and forth debate on how to account and interpret the sales numbers this holiday season. Eric Cantonese fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Dec 9, 2023 |
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Dec 9, 2023 06:05
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I know this is a kind of hard question to really quantify, but was there an attempt to contrast the quantity/quality of merchandise bought for Black Friday this year versus just the raw amount of money spent on it? What I'm curious about is if Americans bought less stuff (whatever that means) but paid more for it.
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Dec 9, 2023 07:08
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Another thing to consider, mostly toward the finance sector but also tech and other white collar jobs, is that a new generation was being told to spend their first years as an adult busting their rear end working 80 hour weeks. Then you can step off the accelerator by around 30 or so and you'll have enough wealth to own a home, start a family and generally coast on life. What that advice didn't say is how that would be impacted by a sudden inflationary spike. It turns out that not only is that horrible for your social life and identity, all that wealth you created isn't worth what it could've been. You worked away your most productive years of your life for a fraction of what was promised. Now you have to choose two out of three.
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Dec 9, 2023 07:22
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bird food bathtub posted:CRISPR editing for sickle cell, didn't see that one coming so soon. Wild stuff. With it being bone marrow editing will the genetic modifications be passed on to any children? Personal gene editing to cure maladies, like the muscular dystrophy that I lost someone to, are super duper cool and I hope the treatments start happening but even that can start getting in to some pretty tangled moral territory. Genetic modifications that get passed on to future generations get their really fast. Like other people said no you need to edit the right cells for that. But I do hope it comes soon, my children have a genetic disorder that I would be glad to see cured so they cannot pass it on to their kids if they have any. I have become mostly entirely negative about technological progress, except medical technology.
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Dec 9, 2023 08:13
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Life expectancy got worse. There is that one...
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Dec 9, 2023 09:13
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My Neurologist asked me a couple days ago if I would be interested in gene therapy for Duchenne should it be opened up to older patients. Crazy to be asked something you been waiting for, but still feels far away as I'd turn it down as it stands today. Just too much risk for someone with Duchenne this advanced, my body's response has a high chance to be too much for my heart.
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Dec 9, 2023 10:59
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Does anyone have a good understanding of Nikki Haley? I’ve heard a few people state she’s relatively moderate compared to the other candidates running, but beyond the pragmatic opposition to a federal abortion ban that she brought up in the debates I know next to nothing about her.
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Dec 9, 2023 12:11
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McCain with pantsuit. A make pretend moderate who is just a neocon corporate sellout.
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Dec 9, 2023 12:42
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Corambis posted:Does anyone have a good understanding of Nikki Haley? I’ve heard a few people state she’s relatively moderate compared to the other candidates running, but beyond the pragmatic opposition to a federal abortion ban that she brought up in the debates I know next to nothing about her. Really likes to work that hindu fascism angle, but mostly as a vehicle for neocon islamophobia.
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Dec 9, 2023 13:39
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Corambis posted:Does anyone have a good understanding of Nikki Haley? I’ve heard a few people state she’s relatively moderate compared to the other candidates running, but beyond the pragmatic opposition to a federal abortion ban that she brought up in the debates I know next to nothing about her. I lived in SC when she was governor here, she's only pragmatic about backing off of insane culture war poo poo in the service of suckering moderates into making it possible to implement those policies later. Went tooth and nail against medicaid expansion. The one thing I will grant her is that she was very, very good at natural disaster response, both both from the standpoint of making sure the systems for that were well drilled and well funded and for being seen at the scenes saying the kinds of reassuring things people want to hear while demonstrating that help is coming. FEMA would thrive in a hypothetical Haley administration
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Dec 9, 2023 15:52
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Goddammit all to hell. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/09/texas-abortion-lawsuit-kate-cox-abortion-ruling/71862324007/ quote:The Texas Supreme Court has paused a judge's decision to temporarily block the state from enforcing its strict abortion ban in the case of a woman who is seeking to terminate a pregnancy in which her fetus has a fatal diagnosis.
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Dec 9, 2023 15:59
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shame on an IGA posted:I lived in SC when she was governor here, she's only pragmatic about backing off of insane culture war poo poo in the service of suckering moderates into making it possible to implement those policies later. Went tooth and nail against medicaid expansion. The one thing I will grant her is that she was very, very good at natural disaster response, both both from the standpoint of making sure the systems for that were well drilled and well funded and for being seen at the scenes saying the kinds of reassuring things people want to hear while demonstrating that help is coming. Yeah, she's basically the ideal candidate from an orthodox Republican party perspective: charming, capable, smart enough to not trip over her own feet, and fully on board with anything the whackjob right proposes while also smart enough to wrap that evil poo poo up in a friendly sounding package. If I were Mitch McConnell she is exactly the candidate I would hope would win the Republican primary.
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Dec 9, 2023 16:58
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I feel like Haley is the no brainer VP pick for Trump. Because of softer more pragmatic image she could sucker a few people around the suburban edges to vote for the Trump ticket, and hasn't been overtly attacking Trump during the campaign.
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Dec 9, 2023 17:02
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Haley had the gall to challenge Trump, she won't be his VP pick. Pence was an establishment pick and he knew it, next time he's going to select someone who is fully his creature body and soul.
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Dec 9, 2023 17:10
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Morrow posted:Haley had the gall to challenge Trump, she won't be his VP pick. Pence was an establishment pick and he knew it, next time he's going to select someone who is fully his creature body and soul. vivek
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Dec 9, 2023 17:16
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Zwabu posted:I feel like Haley is the no brainer VP pick for Trump. Because of softer more pragmatic image she could sucker a few people around the suburban edges to vote for the Trump ticket, and hasn't been overtly attacking Trump during the campaign. Someone asked Haley "Do you think Trump is or is not a threat to democracy?" and they were escorted off the premises 
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Dec 9, 2023 17:17
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Cimber posted:Goddammit all to hell. It's horrifying but at this point she should be making plans to flee the state and never return. She could probably do alright making money off the media coverage if she strikes while the iron is hot. Absolutely pathetic country
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Dec 9, 2023 17:17
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I think Trump is telling the truth when he says he won't choose any of the people who decided to "run against" him. It'll probably be somebody from the Freedom Caucus or a wingnutty governor like Noem.
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Dec 9, 2023 17:22
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Zwabu posted:I feel like Haley is the no brainer VP pick for Trump. Because of softer more pragmatic image she could sucker a few people around the suburban edges to vote for the Trump ticket, and hasn't been overtly attacking Trump during the campaign. Nick Fuentes Why not? gently caress it Trump's going mask off this time around. Amazingly it's making him more popular in the polls. Remind me to renew my passport.
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Dec 9, 2023 17:23
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Yeah Trump will choose a pawn. Maybe Ivanka.
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Dec 9, 2023 17:24
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yeah Trump will choose a pawn. Maybe Ivanka. He has at least proven that he is uninterested in allowing politics to drive his decision. An old governor from Indiana, when his base did not need to be shored up at all, was the most politically unhelpful choice of a running mate since Dick Cheney. So yeah, it will probably be an angry, nutty little yes-man.
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Dec 9, 2023 17:38
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yeah, she's basically the ideal candidate from an orthodox Republican party perspective: charming, capable, smart enough to not trip over her own feet, and fully on board with anything the whackjob right proposes while also smart enough to wrap that evil poo poo up in a friendly sounding package. I don't know enough about her to say you're wrong,. I just can't help but think a year or so ago I remember that being word for word what lots of people said about DeSantis.
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Dec 9, 2023 17:46
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Bel Shazar posted:Really likes to work that hindu fascism angle, but mostly as a vehicle for neocon islamophobia. I think you're thinking of Tulsi Gabbard or Vivek. Haley converted from Sikhism to Christianity before she went into politics.
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Dec 9, 2023 17:53
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Rigel posted:He has at least proven that he is uninterested in allowing politics to drive his decision. An old governor from Indiana, when his base did not need to be shored up at all, was the most politically unhelpful choice of a running mate since Dick Cheney. So Stephen Miller.
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Dec 9, 2023 17:56
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Killer robot posted:I don't know enough about her to say you're wrong,. I just can't help but think a year or so ago I remember that being word for word what lots of people said about DeSantis. She was smart enough to actually take the confederate flag off the SC state capitol. Not the sort of thing DeSantis would ever do. She also brought Boeing to SC because we're a "right to work" state then served on their board once out of office as payback. Meanwhile DeSantis managed to piss off Disney. She was also able to make it through the Trump white house without burning bridges or getting arrested for anything, which pretty much nobody else managed. Haley is classic corporate business republican. Unlike desantis,, she isn't particularly fascist herself, she's just fine with it if it is to her personal advantage. Mitch McConnell type republican, not Trump type.
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Dec 9, 2023 18:06
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Kagrenak posted:Again with this? Why do people keep posting these things without addressing the part which is actually confusing: if people are unable to feed their children properly because bread is so expensive, why are they rating their own financial situation as good? Idk but obviously I empathize with it. We weren't struggling in the USA but it was poo poo enough to notice that everything from diapers to cheese to electricity to rent was rapidly rising in price. Enough so we had to cut back, thankfully without truly going hungry but it's drat noticeable. And as I imagine everyone reading this knows, there's a lot of people in the USA who are struggling to keep their bellies full. Far from the majority, but they are in the millions. Compare to now, I'm making less than half of my previous wage for the same job, as is my wife, in a country with a third of the gdp per capita as the good ol' US and A, and suddenly there's no insecurity, no worry, healthcare they just give you, trains, busses, constantly running? It whips rear end. There are good reasons to think that the US economy is doing poo poo even if you're personally alright. Zapf Dingbat posted:Man, I remember being a little kid sometime in the early 90s and stopping at a rail crossing, and just how blazing fast the Amtrak seemed when it zoomed past. I think they discontinued that line sometime in Clinton's admin. do it you won't look back
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Dec 9, 2023 18:20
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I will never abandon the purple mountains' majesty or the fruited plains 
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Dec 9, 2023 18:30
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I don't think it's at all confusing how people can feel like they're doing better financially while still believing the economy is in shambles. A story. From about 2017 to 2020 I was the sole income in my household. I was making roughly 45k a year. I live in a suburb outside of a city, in a low-income unit where my rent is about 1400 a month. There are two people in my household. My wife was unemployed for most of that period. There's a rhythm to poverty that you get used to. Watching your bank account dwindle to nothing. Prioritizing rent to the exclusion of all else, watching your shoes decompose and holding off on buying new ones until it becomes a job risk. Letting things break on your car because you have to make a real choice between having functioning air filters or buying food. And credit; when you can't make ends meet, you put it on credit, and up and up your debt goes. You accrue many kinds of debt. Literal debt, of course, but you also accrue things normal people would fix but you just can't - health things, dental visits, clothing that needs replacing and so on. This year I make closer to 65k and my wife is also employed. We have disposable income for the first time in years. Yet almost all of the 'excess' money I make goes into fixing my breaks, replacing shoes that have no soles, and so on. I am objectively doing better but I still can't buy my way out of poverty; that's a project that could take me another 5-10 years.
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Dec 9, 2023 20:52
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:I know this is a kind of hard question to really quantify, but was there an attempt to contrast the quantity/quality of merchandise bought for Black Friday this year versus just the raw amount of money spent on it? What I'm curious about is if Americans bought less stuff (whatever that means) but paid more for it. Anecdotal, but this is the slowest peak season I've ever worked at UPS. Though there are confounding factors like the company being total bitches about hours following the contract, and seeming to actually use their brain somewhat in how they're running the building this time. Killer robot posted:I don't know enough about her to say you're wrong,. I just can't help but think a year or so ago I remember that being word for word what lots of people said about DeSantis. DeSantis was they mythic competent fascist. Haley is an old school Republican in the McConnell/Bush mode where they keep the quiet part in small font footnotes. She doesn't campaign to end the woke transgender Mafia as her number one issue, she just lets her appointees do it while focusing on the glorious goal of the unfettered market.
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Dec 9, 2023 21:00
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Gyges posted:Anecdotal, but this is the slowest peak season I've ever worked at UPS. Though there are confounding factors like the company being total bitches about hours following the contract, and seeming to actually use their brain somewhat in how they're running the building this time.
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Dec 9, 2023 21:04
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:Idk but obviously I empathize with it. We weren't struggling in the USA but it was poo poo enough to notice that everything from diapers to cheese to electricity to rent was rapidly rising in price. Enough so we had to cut back, thankfully without truly going hungry but it's drat noticeable. And as I imagine everyone reading this knows, there's a lot of people in the USA who are struggling to keep their bellies full. Far from the majority, but they are in the millions. Sure all of what you posted is true and I agree, but most of the systemic problems in the US are not new and the new ones you highlight like inflation, high interest rates and rising rent costs are being experienced in the Eurozone in similar and sometimes more severe ways. The rate of severe food insecurity in Germany, for example, is double that of the US and it's looking like austerity measures are on the horizon. On the balance I would agree that while life in Germany is still better, they're clearly experiencing a fast decline from prior conditions in a similar but different way as us. The disconnect is still that people in Germany/the EU also are rating their personal situations as declining and are reducing discretionary spending in a way that people in the US are not. Maybe your point is that people are more likely to notice the long standing systemic issues now that they've been forced to confront potential economic turmoil ahead? But if that's what caused it, why didn't we see the same split occur in 2008-2009? Is something different about the national consciousness now? Kagrenak fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Dec 9, 2023 |
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Dec 9, 2023 21:31
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Misunderstood posted:I think Trump is telling the truth when he says he won't choose any of the people who decided to "run against" him. It'll probably be somebody from the Freedom Caucus or a wingnutty governor like Noem. That guy in MA who ran for US senate and sues anyone who refutes his claim that he invented email.
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Dec 9, 2023 21:32
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Mendrian posted:I don't think it's at all confusing how people can feel like they're doing better financially while still believing the economy is in shambles. Still pretty confusing that would only happen in the US, and only now though
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Dec 9, 2023 21:35
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I AM GRANDO posted:That guy in MA who ran for US senate and sues anyone who refutes his claim that he invented email. Lmao didn't expect to see Shiva come up here. He went to MIT, he'd very much like you to know. reignonyourparade posted:Still pretty confusing that would only happen in the US, and only now though Yeah exactly. Lots of posters have put together great arguments for how the national mood could be like this but none of them address the novelty aspect in a satisfying way imo.
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Dec 9, 2023 21:37
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Biden administration uses emergency authority to sell tank shells to Israel quote:The Biden administration has used an emergency authority to allow the sale of about 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review, the Pentagon said on Saturday. Assume I'm someone who believes that: 1) Genocide is the most severe and horrific crime that can be committed. 2) It is always morally unacceptable to vote for someone who supports, enables, and facilitates genocide. 3) Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The overwhelming consensus in this thread every time this has come up is that anyone who refuses to vote for Biden (e.g. because he's blatantly supporting genocide) is being petty or immature or childish. I do actually believe in those three premises (which obviously entail that it's morally unacceptable to vote for Biden). Since most people here disagree, I'd like to know where you think someone like me is going wrong with this reasoning. I don't think many people would dispute 1). It's possible to dispute 3), but in light of the very strong statements from just about every human rights organization in the past few weeks, I doubt many people here would seriously dispute it at least. That leaves 2). I get the sense that many (if not most) posters here believe that, actually, it is morally acceptable to vote for someone who supports, enables, and facilitates genocide. Presumably, those who hold that view have a strong justification for it. I'd really like to hear that justification spelled out explicitly.
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Dec 9, 2023 22:00
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"the other side will do worse" is the sum total of it
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Dec 9, 2023 22:02
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mawarannahr posted:UPS has fallen behind Amazon Logistics even when counting the parcels UPS hands over to USPS... maybe the growth was on the Amazon end? Amazon worker. Nah it seems fairly chill here. Longer hours, yes, but Operations (management) isn't bouncing between panic about falling behind or fatalism about how far behind they are. 2017 and 2020 were some rough holiday seasons. This seems kind of mid at most. Of course give this anecdote an extra grain of salt in that I recently snagged a promotion/pay raise so I spend most of my time out in the trailer yard dealing with dumbass truck drivers instead of dumbass managers.
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Dec 9, 2023 22:06
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US food insecurity is way up in the past 2 years and is approaching 2007/2008 levels. The percentage of Americans putting off medical treatment is the highest it's been in 20 years. Again, a big spike in the past 2 years. The dream of home ownership for most Americans has never been less realistic, according to the Home Affordability Index. This thread loves to point out the polls and metrics that support Bidenomics, but there are plenty of metrics supporting the idea that the economy is bad, still getting worse, and people are getting desperate. I'm going to trust those metrics since they agree with my own experience, the experiences of most of the people in my life, and what I see with my own eyes as I shop at the grocery store or travel around and see the desperation and squalor firsthand. Biden and the Democrats are steering right into the iceberg. They're going to discover (not for the first time) that talking down to people, minimizing their struggles, and handwaving with graphs and metrics is tone-deaf and self-defeating. Taking all the taxpayer money that *should* be used to support our own people and giving it all to Israel is just doubling down on bad (and inhumane) policy.
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Dec 9, 2023 22:06
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Gnumonic posted:
There are two choices. Biden is the less bad one. Not voting for him helps the worse choice win. That’s all there is to it.
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Dec 9, 2023 22:08
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“I refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils” is not wrong, but functionally indistinguishable from “my moral purity is more important than the harm that will befall targets of a second trump administration”
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