I was so pissed at Israel and Israeli’s for the genocide we’re watching. Then as an American I looked in the mirror and saw my tax dollars providing the bombs for the genocide and realized I’m as responsible as the citizens of Israel. Now I’m just disgusted by our nation, the state of the world and my complicity in that state

I believe Putin’s power over Trump will prevent anyone doing anything extreme about Iran. Russia has always had an interest in controlling Iran and certainly would not approve the US taking it out.

For the last couple of years I’ve quit going to all the little rural communities in SE Michigan I spend money at who are voting for Trump at proportionally high rates. If they don’t want us, they don’t want our money either.

Where will Trump voters hear about the negatives? The 4th estate is not something they have any regard for or they wouldn’t be on the fence. Newsmax, OAN, Fox, etc will all ignore the racism

One side expects their candidates to hold some standards, the other side doesn’t care. It’s like watching a sporting event with a homer who only sees the world based on how it effects their team winning or losing. Fairness doesn’t come into play, the other side is always cheating and getting favored media exposure.

In SE Michigan it doesn’t matter if you’re in a 55 or 70mph speed zone, people will be averaging about 80mph including in the winter. Try to stay right and it should be safe if you’re doing the speed limit. The most unexpected dangerous part of driving when it gets really cold is it will freeze under an overpass and it’s very hard to see. Spinning on that is non uncommon. Just hold your line when you go under them and even if you slip you’re back on dry pavement in a second.
Shoveling isn’t too bad if you’re in decent shape. When it’s really wet it can be rough on my back but otherwise it’s just exercise. In freezing cold weather. With numb hands and feet from the cold. Usually needing to be done before your drive to work or just as you’re getting home, so perfect timing when you’re looking for something to take up some free time. ;-p
Good snow tires make a huge difference. They still stick in cold weather unlike harder summer tires and they can save you in bad conditions.
8-10 inches of snow is not rare but it is uncommon. 2-4 inches of snow at some points is usually expected. Freezing rain sucks and will take out power to a lot of people from branches falling. It’s become a lot more common. Backup generators are becoming more common. However we don’t have the problems Texas has with their grid and it’s usually pretty sound.

I rented a Fiesta when I was there for work and I think I hit about 110mph, but I live in Detroit and our highways are nicknamed the Michigan Autobahn so 90+ is not unusual. What was unusual and required some attention were the cars coming up behind you at over 150mph. If you chose to pass you had to look a lot further back to see if anyone was coming or you’d cut some Porsche/Merc/Beemer off.
I had a lot more fun on the twisting back roads in Germany and Belgium

Both parties are beholden to Israel and the power of AIPAC

XP was kind of a F up for MS, they gave us a really decent OS that raised our expectations. People ran that for almost 2 decades because no one wanted the new OS’s MS was putting out like ME and Vista. Win 8 was out when XP support fully ended and many people chose to go with the older Win 7 because it was less intrusive and more like a PC OS instead of trying to become like a Apple/phone/tablet interface. XP>Win 7>Win 10>Win 11 imo and all the unmentioned weren’t worth upgrading for, but I don’t use my phone for the internet and I’ve been using a PC for over 40 years. We like what’s familiar and we can use without having to think too much about the tool used to achieve what we’re doing. I have Win 11 on a laptop and I have to jump through a lot more hoops to control my desktop, who can pull my info, what can install, what can run in the background. And every update I have to do it again because they add shit back in again along with new stuff I don’t want or need. Win 10 professional at least minimized how often they’d add new stuff or change my existing settings. Win 11 Pro doesn’t seem nearly as friendly.

I contracted to one of the big 3 for over 30 years. When we decided to quit making cars and focus on trucks, SUV’s, and crossovers it seemed like they were giving up future numbers for short term profit. It’s obvious small electric cars are the future but our big 3 want to ignore that. Blaming the lost market share on small cars from China disregards that they chose to leave that market. Of course Asia would step into that market and fill it

Those traits gave me two things in my IT contracting career, the ability to roll into a new position at the same contractor so I didn’t have to job hunt, and the contractor wanting nothing to do with bringing me in as a full time employee. I saw it as a win/win

If you don’t vote Dem you’re willing to let him win and don’t see any difference between how the 2 candidates who can actually win differ enough to choose one over the other when one is a fascist

I always thought a parliamentary system made more sense so we could vote for parties that aligned more closely with our ideals and our ideals for our nation. France is currently showing how the divide between right wing nationalism, the leave it as it is people, and those who want more social and economic equity can still lead to deadlock as much as a 2 party system can. The powerful are so powerful now and our information is controlled by so few, with so little social responsibility or regard for the media as a watchdog over the powerful. They are the powerful trying to keep us in the dark.

A 3rd party vote is a vote for neither but with a nod toward where we’d like to head. I loath the DNC just slightly more than the old RNC. With the RNC becoming a MAGA party, I could never vote for one of their candidates. When our vote is fascism or a DNC status quo I’ll plug my nose like I did for Hillary and vote for whoever the DNC puts up. I’d really like to see the non DNC preferred candidate win the primary in 2028 and have the progressive arm of the party have significant clout.
And yes, the DNC has unwavering support for Israel. What more proof do you need than Biden still sending weapons to them while a genocide is taking place? The Prog wing in the party is a great voice, but they have little clout and AIPAC has been effective at getting them out.

I remember reading about a Pa Kua Chang master who could walk through a crowd with a full teacup and not spill any. For whatever reason I started to practice walking with a full to the brim teacup (with or without a handle) and now I can go up and down stairs with one or two and not spill anything. Usually

What’s the sound of one hand clapping? ;-p

Not imo. One side wants to kill me with no regulations on air, water, and food so a shit sandwich would be acceptable to them if it lines their benefactors pockets. The other side may want to get me to eat cauliflower because not only is it good for me but it lines their benefactors pockets

My son is a pretty good cook and has done this. Unlike a shit sandwich people actually finds ways to make food that’s good for you taste decent. The only people a shit sandwich is good for are those selling the shit. A fitting analogy for our election.

If we had a normal election I’d be voting 3rd party because of the Dem’s unwavering support for Israel with a genocide happening there. Unfortunately our choice is like choosing between a shit sandwich or pureed cauliflower for dinner. Pureed cauliflower sounds disgusting but when so many people are going to choose the shit sandwich I better vote for Cauliflower so I don’t eat shit

Elon is the tech version of Murdoch and is more dangerous because of his worldwide access through Twitter. Unfortunately the extremists will have more of a voice and propaganda will overwhelm the media. Since the media is controlled by billionaires they have no interest in exposing them