so which country do you hail from?

I came to this community to ask if anyone else, upon hearing that Project 2025 sought to ban porn, has been fapping to it multiple times a day. I was on a mild NNN vibe before the election as part of a broader desire to reduce screen time but now that's out the window and I'm getting it while the getting's good. This hasn't been to the exclusion of some pretty good sex and cuddles with my partner, thankfully...

I really didn't want to believe it, but post-election I've come to the conclusion that a significant amount of these vibes are driven by YouTube and TikTok. My FYP is filled with videos that portray only the side of the U.S. that is decaying--abandoned shopping malls, blighted neighborhoods or towns that shut down for one reason or another, presented as memes about "liminality" or uncanniness. Admittedly I have a longstanding interest in urban exploration that predates the liminal space trend and its offshoots but you have to ask yourself why these media are being pushed so hard by algorithms and I don't think it's just that they appeal to people like me. I suspect that it's part of a more concerted effort to portray the United States as a nation in decline, failing to keep up with authoritarian powers like China and Russia, leading to an obvious prescription: replace our democracy with our own authoritarian system... which will be easier for large corporations and foreign governments (even China whom Trump ostensibly opposes) to exploit and control.

My heart just breaks hearing this.

The text messages are the absolute worst.

Let's start a movement to egg houses that still have Trump signs hanging, or leave burning bags of dog shit on their doorsteps, or knock over their mailboxes or some other stupid prank wave; it's really the least we can do in solidarity.

I've been looking into less lethal firearms like the Umarex TR50 or HDX 68 because I can get them more quickly (don't need training/licensing) and if I end up having to use them it's less likely to get police or courts involved, whom I do not trust to be sympathetic, and you shouldn't either. In addition to versions which are colored bright orange to denote low lethality, there are black versions that look like guns at a glance, which may be enough deterrent/intimidation factor to make a brownshirt pause for a moment, during which time you fire pepperballs, which should disable them long enough for you to get away. The TR50 revolver can be loaded with a mix of those and hard pellets which will hurt like hell if aimed properly, and the HDX 68 has a sharp butt which can be jabbed in close quarters if needed.

But--going back to my earlier point--none of this does any good if it's the police themselves or the military coming for you, nor will a conventional weapon help that much in that situation, frankly.

The musical instrument thing is transitory and depends entirely on the instrument.

Pre-relationship; in a popular band playing a more traditional instrument like guitar with a bunch of also attractive people (or at least part of a cool local scene) = hot

In a relationship and/or solo bedroom producing any kind of electronic music and/or buying lots of synthesizers, drum machines or grooveboxes = not hot

Also note how low "clubbing" is on the least attractive list, so no, DJs and electronic musicians who perform live don't get a pass

technically the threshold for "different species" is "can't reproduce with other species through normal biological means" so I think while it's hard to argue that with other billionaires, Elon Musk is an interesting case since AFAIK all those kids with his genes were conceived through artificial insemination. you may be on to something; maybe we're watching a divergence in action.

Thank you, this comment helped me understand something, because during hypomania I legitimately do not notice except in hindsight that my priorities may have been off; everything makes total sense in a way that it doesn't when I'm not in that state. Similarly, until I bought a smart watch that could track sleep and started wearing it to bed, I actually didn't notice how little sleep I would get during these phases--sometimes less than four hours a night for a straight week, and I would barely feel any difference. It sounds like there is more of a kind of self-awareness during ADHD hyperfocus, and sometimes I have that as well--I'm learning to discern which is which, just like I learned to use indicators like sleep to recognize when I am at risk of a hypomanic episode.

I feel like the ADHD community is embracing a whole raft of symptoms that I thought were more bipolar ii related because this sure sounds a lot like me during one of my hypomanic phases. i'm not sure where the nuanced distinctions are... maybe it comes down to whether you also spend thousands of dollars on gear to support said project and/or just decide sleep is optional while you're tackling it? or crash into a depressive phase triggered by frustration when you inevitably fail and abandon it? IDK

I think having anyone tell you to smile more in any situation that isn't a posed photo is creepy because it's invalidating your emotional state, or telling you to stop feeling your feelings and replace them with how the other person wants you to feel... the most fucked-up instance of this that's happened to me was when a female therapist suggested "smiling more" as a prescription for depression.

All that aside, I have actually been catcalled on the street by women, and since it doesn't happen to me all the time I just found it funny. I have also been complimented in the office on my appearance by a female supervisor and it felt creepy, but had much worse sexual harassment from a male boss who apparently wasn't even gay, just doing it to mess with me.

"The disqualification clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prevents public officials who engage in treason from holding a future public office."

https://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment14/annotation15.html#:~:text=The disqualification clause of the,holding a future public office.

Yes I am aware that the Supreme Court let him stay on the ballot when they had the chance to rule on this, but that's a single ruling, not a law, and in point of fact not even Trump's own lawyers argued that he was not a traitor--they persuaded the Court he appointed to invent a technicality that has no basis in the actual amendment, nor any law, nor legal precedent.

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/05/trump-supreme-court-insurrection-ruling-election

The silver lining here should be that the same Court also gave Biden the immunity he would need to step in and use the Executive branch to apply any the "checks and balances" needed to restore rule of law when all other branches fail, because that is the way our democracy is designed to work, yet Biden won't do that, and so US citizens can say goodbye to having any form of separation of powers at all.

in this reply and the others following it you seem to be completely glossing over the most salient point here, which is that TRUMP SHOULD NOT BE ELIGIBLE TO SERVE AS PRESIDENT. Taking extreme measures to prevent him from getting access to unprecedented power is not sacrificing the rule of law for our beliefs, it is defending the rule of law, in which we believe, from a madman who openly despises it!

and the vibes around Trump were good? the dude is a shitstain on the very fabric of existence

The Man in the High Castle comes close... or at least, makes it clear that it's not as though the Nazis and Japanese occupying America would actually live by the code they dictate for others.

Bluesky is US-based. Perhaps you're thinking of Mastodon? It doesn't really matter, though; I'm sure the new censors will block access from the US to any site that is potentially critical of Trump or his administration, regardless of location.

Yes, actually it's beyond that; the landlord has to put the security deposit in an interest-bearing account so that it makes money while they hold it for you!

also incredibly easy for the federal government to take them out

OMG a conspiracy by the DNC to elect an actual registered Democrat instead of an independent, how shocking /s

seriously, what did you expect?

the bernie bros have been out in force since the election shouting down anyone who disagrees with their vision of a populist party run by an old, out of touch white man. why does that sound familiar /s

I hate to say this, but it's too fucking late for any sort of electoral solution, at least on a national level. At this point we need to develop local capacity to secure our progressive enclaves in liberal states and big metropolitan areas. This means rooting out the conservative factions within our police and firing bad actors, as well as training community-based self-defense forces. We also need to build more effective local resilience and mutual aid networks so that the Federal government can't dangle emergency aid over us when pandemics and climate-related disasters recur, as they frequently will. We need politicians who will defend our territory, boundaries and values, and fight to discontinue the tremendous subsidy we pay to MAGA territories. We need more self-sufficient economies that trade primarily with healthy, rights-respecting economies in Canada and Europe. It's a heavy lift and unfortunately I don't see anyone up to the task right now, as even Bernie, Warren, and AOC are stubborn institutionalists who will continue trying to work within the system even as it works against them and their constituents.