Notices by Janis (janisf@mstdn.social)

@GottaLaff This is really interesting, really. The press has been under much worse attack from Facebook & twitter, who reap the eyeballs and funding without giving press outlets any way to recover, outside paywalls. Most folks have had their heads in the sand on this.

What Trump can't attack is diversified, small donations. End of story.

We haven't been paying for what we read.

(Now that you can, protect the CBC.)

@pezmico But if we take away the window to the shitstorm world, our kids can stay in our windowless McMansion enjoying the same wealth-supported ignorance we do.

What. We turned out OK. We're good parents. We worked hard to provide. Their C-PTSD *can't* be us.

(/s)

@dalias @JessTheUnstill Index returns have been about 10%. Last year the price of a house (avg US) went up 18%, while if individuals don't buy them, global investment corporations do, paying that 10% index to its investors, pocketing the other 8%, and actually hiring a remote employee to manage multiple properties in exchange for a single unit. (Obvs, it's not allegorically simple like that, but you get the gist.)

Against whom are you trying to win?

@JessTheUnstill Agreed. It's important, though, I think, in the process of getting to that conclusion, to see that individuals generally rent for retirement income rather than wealth, where the (many foreign) corporations who've bought up most of the housing and let it sit empty for appreciation over time are a bunch of people just doing their jobs, making profit for shareholders.

The problem is that passive income makes more than wages. That's a systemic issue.

@JessTheUnstill the landlords don't pocket most of that money--they're paying mortgages (plus interenst), property taxes, appliance loans, repair, easements the bulk of what they make is on the sale of the property that "magically" appreciates.

Ask to see your landlord's books? Little individual middlemen aren't the ones accumulating wealth, at least not until they sell--and that's the definition of a market gamble. They're playing the game, but the game is what's evil. Peg the rule-writers.

@eribosot The only common theme I can find is hatred of Democrats, while not understanding the actual political landscape.

This moment feels like five minutes after a car accident, when your head reattaches to your body. I think, perhaps what we need to do is figure out, proverbially, which tow company to call and get off the street so we don't get hit.

@ekis This seems to be a pretty good explaiiner about how things get called before votes are officially tallied. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-us-election-results/

It isn't occurring to you that Democrats keep losing because rumor has it they're so dumb they keep losing?

Let's cut to the chase, then. What is it you think the Democratic party isn't learning, exactly?

@forpeterssake @tarheel @mekkaokereke I'm not saying you're wrong. There may be a more useful way to look at this, though. Women's suffrage may never have been a thing if she hadn't been able to get the racists on board with it. The thing about power is you can't get it without touching it and not making it recoil.

I don't have a good answer. Fighting for peace doesn't make sense, either.

@mekkaokereke @forpeterssake @tarheel Glad you're smarter than I am. Have fun with that.

The dicey fight and delicate balance continues. Feminism, racism, gender discrimination, poverty, star-bellied or not. Scared people will find a way to try to hoard power, and it will always be one of the most difficult things to do to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you're hoarding it, needlessly giving it up, or using it for yourself, someone else, or mindlessly.

Eager to see where you lead.

Architect mag singing the praises of SpaceX....

buh-bye.

The Women In Stem push be like, "Put your asses where we can grab 'em!" and then, "Fuck cancel culture!" and, "No one wants to work!"

Support women architects.

Help men math.

#Architecture from where I sit

@Blinxeto @democratsabroad Reduce, reuse, recycle? I mean, China isn't buying ours any more. No one will take this trash, and there's no where to put it. Burn 'em like witches? We have no Australia. Make prisons white again?

For real, tho. Keep the trash out of power, but there's no "out."

Pussy-grabber says manhood is under attack.

@FlashMobOfOne @geekysteven Post-Carter?

I'm not talking about lesser evil. It's all evil. It's the pursuit of power. What ends up beneficial is whether or not that power is distributed in a way that allows people to empower each other.

We have three means to power: communication (including education), our vote, and our dollars. Yes, our vote has too little power. That power has been eroding since the 1970's, not in small part because people with money have figured how to leverage speech platforms.

Vote for democracy.

I'm not offering hopey-changey. I'm asking you to recognize how bad it is, how deftly conservatives have drummed out nearly all power Leftists have, and that we simply can't afford direct pursuit of a multi-party system while the two-party system has lost so much ground to the almighty dollar.

Empower women. Join a union, or unionize. Support more voting. Distribute the power just like you want those up at the top to do.

@aral @IanDSmith Social services watch your every single bank transaction if you're getting any state benefits.

Justices are voted in by Senators. The Senate is weighted much more heavily to less-populated (conservative) states than even the Electoral College.

If you can't put it together how conservatives have retained power by making their own votes heavier, and that their fight is against representative democracy, I'm not sure I can help you.

Yes, the math works. SCOTUS is heavily conservative.

If Dems & Leftists want the wins, the numbers on the ground need to be overwhelming.... consistently.

MH diseases are physical diseases, often times with very identifiable causes, with physical ramifications and complications.

The resistance is insurer push-back so they can pad the pockets of shareholders.

Some please call Sam Altman. UBI won't happen until beneficiaries' medical needs are effectively met--Republicans won't let it happen.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-happens-in-the-brain-to-cause-depression-20240523/

@jeffowski It's interesting, though, to hear that some people feel like they can't make it on two $100K salaries in the house, while others don't complain about one $65K income. I'm not making any judgments, but without digging into how, exactly, their personal finances work, it's hard to say what's going on.

but yes, wages are still near all-time lows compared to investment incomes. We simply don't live in the labor-based, labor-supportive economy most people think it is.

@CatDragon @jeffowski I just heard a set of mini-interviews of locals. So, the people I'm talking about live in the same city. yes, there are lots of factors. When you bought your house or signed your lease can be a substantial one.