Honestly, I plateaued and have had trouble finding motivation to study. My language is good enough now that I can navigate most situations without it getting too uncomfortable for anyone so that main drive is gone. But conversationally I’m still at a great loss and don’t really know how to restart.

I was there last summer again after 5-6 years and it’s astounding how much difference they’ve already made transforming the city. I enjoyed it before but would have never imagined living there until this trip.

I’ll always be a fan of Hitch for that, RIP

Sean Hannity still has never been waterboarded

It’s his whole brand - Art of the Deal was his book (written by someone else of course) and an early attempt to establish a reputation as the ultimate businessman.

Yep.

The only solution is his removal. Yeah - already. He’s proven he’s not interested in running a lawful administration and that is unacceptable.

We gotta figure out how to get out of the nasty self-reinforcing cycle we’re in. Yeah, we absolutely need ranked choice or some other fair voting system, but is that likely with the amount of money that goes into elections these days? But can we get money out with the politicians we have right now?

The usual avenues seem useless - we need to find another way to enforce change.

They just haven’t reached out to moderates and Republicans hard enough!!!

My money is on autoerotic asphyxiation

The GOPers are all saying ‘but I’m MAGA, they won’t deport me’. What they don’t know is that when humanity has dipped into this lawless sort of BS all sorts of people start getting ‘the treatment’. Say your neighbor wants your apartment, what’s stopping them from reporting you as a secret MS13 supporter?

I am having trouble seeing this as a dip

You know there was a time when an administration tried to woo their base

Agreed, in a lot of ways he is a response to the failure to solve real problems that have plagued us for years. Of course none of his solutions will work if they are even coherent. But a lot of people realise that the status quo can’t or won’t do anything so they decide to give a strongman a chance.

Three ways I see this term ending with someone else as President:

1. Trump leaves in a casket, ‘hamburger from heaven’ theory: most likely scenario IMO. He seems pretty healthy for his age tho anything can happen, especially at 80.

2. He pisses off the wrong people, they moneyed and the powerful. They lean on congress to have him removed. Not super likely - Trump knows how to keep them satiated because they’re greedy like him and honestly what helps them helps him too.

3. It’s no longer electorially tenable to support Trump and a large group of Republican senators side with Dems on removal. This seems the least likely as ~30% of US voters seem to be the bottom for Trump’s support. IE he’ll never lose their support and they’re more than enough to keep the rest of the GOP at bay. How do you start to chink away at those numbers, I don’t know - MAYBE serious econonic calamity? The only positive is that Trump has talked so long about tarriffs and the economy that everyone knows it’s his economy. Still, he’s sold his soul to the devil in return for being able to turn any defeat into at least a muddy incomprehensible mess that won’t turn off his base, so not holding my breath. And a great turnout for Dems in 2026 doesn’t change this - they make retake both chambers of congress but in no possible future do they get a supermajority in the Senate required for a unilateral removal.

HOWEVER, it’s extremely important for us to be thinking and talking about how to motivate people to remove him and being in the streets has been a great start. The kind of cronyism yes-man bootlicking administration Trump has set up is deadly serious for the USA and the world. This is the kind of system that leads to Chernobyl level disasters, and I am not being hyperbolic about that. When it is more important to impress or at least not offend dear leader than it is to actually do your job - that’s when terrible things happen. We should all pray for his departure from office as soon as possible or every day of the next four years will be another day for people to get seriously hurt by this administration.

It’s too rational

We’re really starting to develop a system to measure time here. 9 Mooches to a Hegseth

I’m not sure there was ever the possibility of a really convincing UFO video. I’d be skeptical of something extremely realistic even if we were still in the days before convincing traditional effects. It’s just too high a bar - it’s much easier to believe that a video was staged, even to an unbelievable level, than it is to believe that it depicts actual beings from another planet. I think that’s why the UFO community hangs their hat so much on Disclosure these days. They must realize that only confirmation from a trusted authority could be real confirmation.

It seems so obvious that you get the feeling that the people finding reasons not to give homeless people homes are just looking for a reason not to help them