It’s static between changes

The decline was even steeper in February alone, with births falling 7.6% year-over-year to 90,500 — 7,400 fewer than in the same month last year.

Nearly have of the drop can be explained by the fact it was a leap year in 2024

because of the people you’re sucking up to here

wtf are you talking about? Again, I’m not justifying not voting, I’m explaining that not voting doesn’t mean “I’m happy either way”.

you’re arguing for the both sides are the same front

No I’m not, I literally said “even though the alternative is worse”. And again, I’m not justifying not voting, I’m explaining that not voting doesn’t mean “I’m happy either way”.

I’m not justifying not voting, I’m explaining that not voting doesn’t mean “I’m happy either way”. If you were a Palestinian and watched the Democratic party continue to arm the Israeli Defence Forces as they targeted civilians, you might find it hard to give them your vote, even though the alternative is worse. Have more compassion.

I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Voting for a party is a form of acknowledging you agree with the party. A lot of people don’t agree with either party (and I know there are other parties in theory, practically speaking, there are two). The Republican Party is terrible but so is the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is better than the Republican Party and it would make sense to vote for Democratic Party to prevent the Republican Party from taking power. But I can appreciate people not wanting to explicitly support the Democratic Party either. Democratic politicians do as much insider trading and take as many legal bribes as Republican politicians. The US political system rewards bad behaviour. Not voting doesn’t signal that people are happy either way, it could as easily signal that people are sad either way.

I agree there is a lot of voter apathy. But I can appreciate the perspective, a two party system becomes about choosing the least shit candidate. The US has one more political party than North Korea, it’s the illusion of choice when the vast majority of eligible voters have no say in who those two candidates are. The system is flawed and the only people that can change the system benefit from the status quo. So while I don’t agree with it, I can appreciate people wanting to disengage from politics in the US.

Less than one‐third of all Americans who can vote actually cast their ballots for Trump. In fact, in every presidential race he’s run, he hasn’t ever reached a point where more than half of eligible voters in any state voted for him.

I assume the majority of folks in Florida retirement communities voted for Trump but Dale’s property was in Arizona and I doubt it was in a retirement community.

That’s not true, only a minority of Americans voted for Trump in 2024.

I’m left in Canada which is the US equivalent of a more left leaning Bernie Sanders. I’m a veteran, I have a rifle, and I support increased gun controls. Granted my rifle is hot pink so it’s not exactly combat ready.

Maybe it’s ten Zs or iron

Thanks Obama…

An influx of folks moving away from US social media companies. The the twitter exodus of late 2022 but for all US platforms

I’m sure some servers will struggle with a huge influx but the fediverse as a whole would be ok.

applying for an Irish passport (Irish grandfather)

That’s how I got my Irish citizenship. I applied after Brexit so I could keep my EU citizenship.

AFAIK, you can’t enter the UK using your Canadian passport if you’re a British citizen. You need to enter the UK using a British passport as a British citizen. I have Australian, Canadian, British, and Irish citizenship. It’s a lot in passport fees.

Yes you can

I’m not a conservative and I agree with you.

How old is your son?