Notices by Matthew Merkovich? (mattmerk@mastodon.social)

@br00t4c If only he had achieved some level of government power to actually do something about it.

#Democrats
#StagedOpposition
#ExcuseMakers

@pluralistic I knew someone who worked for McKinsey. I’ve also known several Scientologists. What I’ve learned from both of these associations is that no matter how deep you dive to write an exposé into either of these cults, the truth is much, much, much, much, … much worse.

@LillyHerself This is so good, I’m migrating it to my IRL shares!

@br00t4c This article feels like it was written by NextDoor.

@cstross LOL! I’m laughing because I had a college English professor once say (tongue firmly in cheek—but was it really?) that people are stupid, and you have to repeat whatever you are trying to say multiple times. His number was five.

@mcc I would pose this question to @AnarchoNinaWrites
I'm frankly not up to the theory end of this task. I get anarcho-syndicalism conceptually, but I never got past how having a trade-union-centric approach could ever lead to abolishing the state. I've always viewed trade unionism as a pure democracy in the workplace at whatever scale, but that results in stratification of leadership. So like I said, I'm useless on the more granular theory here, and would love to hear more myself.

Corollary to the RFK polio vaccine debacle/atrocity/etc.:

This is a common tactic of the GOP. They go for broke in their policy proposals. All in. 100% commitment to whatever extreme they want.

Compare this to the Democrats who enter these negotiations from the collegial standpoint of “let’s compromise.”

If Democrats were serious, they’d be suggesting nationalizing 100% of healthcare, or jailing billionaires, or expropriating billionaire bank accounts, or …

But you see, they’re not serious.

@gwynnion Reposted because this particular post, from this fine thread, is pure and evergreen!

@adamconover I'm sad there are no Colorado dates, one of the states that Trump actually didn't win in the last election. Le sigh. I shall, however, keep my fingers crossed for the future.

@br00t4c They are both on my Luigi nomination list.

I like articles with which I can quibble at the edges, like this from @pluralistic. It ends with the passage:" As a character in 'Radicalized' says, 'They say violence never solves anything,' but to quote The Onion: 'that's only true so long as you ignore all of human history.'"

In my lifetime nothing has moved the needle on discussing the crime of for-profit health care more than recent events.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/09/radicalized/#deny-defend-depose

An remember while reading, John Wayne Gacy was a family man with children.

@dalias @RMiddleton @ScribblerRVA @StillIRise1963 I’ve said it for decades now: Gen X’s biggest sin was not stopping our parents. (Though over time I’ve learned that was because most of Gen X never broke free of their parents’ politics.)

I think we need to stop surveying people for how they feel about “the economy,” and need to start surveying them for their definition of the phrase “the economy.”

New Yorkers are fun!

@cbarbermd I always piggy-back on these HPV vaccine posts, as someone who developed tonsil cancer because of HPV. Get your boys vaccinated too!

@retroist To all of us who lived in this time, this was the sci-fi future that would lead us all to having flying cars.

Did you know you can save 100% of the purchase price of any item in Amazon’s Black Friday sale by not purchasing that item? Unleash your inner saving demon today!

@quinn I think the value of having a good echo chamber is underrated, but I also think that no one should remain solely and only in that echo chamber. I just wish there were more non-social network groups out there on the internet for said echo-chambering. Problem is, those groups get sucked into whatever is the latest social network hotness. And I have no idea what to personally do about that.

More IRL friends and acquaintances might be a good start for me. 😆

Honest question: Why do YOU think people want Mastodon's user base to get bigger? You may even be one of those people, and if so, why do YOU want Mastodon's user base to grow?

Full disclosure: I don't really want or care for Mastodon to get bigger. But I also get why some people may want larger audiences for their art, or their observations about a topic, or any number of reasons.

I'm simply curious why larger social network platform size is viewed so broadly as being good or desirable.

@AnarchoNinaWrites My great-grandmother made horseradish in the back yard, wearing a WWII gas mask. That stuff can be dangerous! 😆