As much as I'd believe it, the Mirror feels a lot like it's trying to feed me wild bullshit that I should swallow because it reinforces my world view, and I don't trust it

This Is Just To Say

I have turned off
the AI features
that were in
the update

and which
you were probably
hoping
to monetize

Fuck you
they were stupid
so unnecessary
and so annoying

Agreed. As an uncle, a former babysitter, and a big brother with a near 14-year age gap, I do not see myself in this

In all fairness, nobody knows that except the person he shows a magazine cover to.

OTOH he starts conversation randomly and opens with being named after a founding member of the KKK. I know the audience is supposed to find his ignorance of the significance of all this endearing but...*yeah*. No.

I feel uncomfortably certain that he has at least openly entertained the thought

There's a TTRPG called Mage: the Ascension from the 90's. Going over it now the symbols and shorthands it uses have changed a *lot* in their cultural context over the last few decades; a game powered by you knowing better than the status quo and fighting EVIL SCIENTISTS has aged *horrendously*

screencap of a tweet with a photo at the bottom of JD Vance giving a talk, gesturing smugly with his hands Eric Daugherty • @EricLDaugh • 1h • JD VANCE RESPONDS TO POPE LEO: "When the Pope says that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword - there is more than a THOUSAND year tradition of Just war Theory." "In the same way that it's important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it's very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology." "And I think that one of these issues here is that there has been - if you're going to opine on matters of theology, you've got to be careful, you've got to make sure it's anchored in the truth, and that's one of the things that I try to do, and it's certainly something I would expect from the clergy, whether they're Catholic or Protestant."

I’ve given this a great deal of thought, trying to come up with the perfect joke for this moment, and this is what I have so far -

POPE LEO: our religion teaches that this war is bad

VANCE: wow, who died and made YOU head of the Catholic Church??

POPE LEO: well, you should know, you were there

I would love to know how many of these dudes self-identify as nerds because anecdotally I don't find nerds regularly gamble as they understand the concept of statistics, and if they want to engage in risky behavior with dice they will do it not with craps but with a DM and four fellow adventurers

Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina hinojosa speaks to a full house

Meanwhile, in Houston, gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa is talking about Greg Abbott trafficking people into Texas’s private prisons and detention centers so that his donors will profit, and I really appreciate her for it.

…🤔

“Femtay.”

It’s profoundly ignorant to suggest that the Pope should be fighting crime on behalf of the Catholic Church. Anyone who was remotely familiar with Roman Catholicism would know that that’s what Daredevil is for

Same.

Tbh I didn't remember that it had been on Arsenio, but white folks recognized him enough that Hall's signature whirling, barking first pump was among the impressions of Robin Williams's genie.

It is. But it's also kind of harder to sell

Not all of them. I can say that I'm related to some who absolutely justify some heinous actions and people by abdicating their own moral responsibilities and judgment to God and assuming His tacit approval, but I don't hear end times talk from them

As much as it's got some very real problems, there's a few lines in Hamilton that stick with me. In this case, "Winning was easy, young man. Governing's harder."

Winning isn't necessarily easy, but creating something after is *still* harder than that.

It's fine. Sometimes I grab it but if it disappeared from Dallas I'd go. "Eh. Okay. I'm not starved for burger choices"

My manager takes every opportunity to extoll the virtues of AI and how he uses Copilot to write his emails and it just makes me lose respect for him

Growth is never a straight line, even when it should be. Or when "growth" should never have been needed in the first place.

I am *furious.* I am so goddamn furious and so sad and so tired.

I know there were problems before Trump. I know this. I *know.*

But it wasn't a daily spectacle from a carnival barker determined to aggrandize himself at the entire world's expense. This is insane. This never stops being insane.

Yeah so he is just going to keep doing the thing where we are in a constant state of uncertainty, confusion, stress, and tension because that is what abusive people do and the people who are in a position to address this are asleep at the switch.

I've mused in person, maybe also here, that the Conservative base starts with assumptions and selects--or invents--foundations to support it

I feel like I'm in a burning clown car and everyone I grew up with is just merrily laughing and huffing the fumes as they grin at me, and it's horrifying

4/4

That influencer in particular feels like the worst of them, because he gives just enough play and feigns just enough *potential* doubt to make it sound like he's being rational and giving it thought. But he's one of the ones who launders it all, attributes reasons and rationale to the madness

3/

The truth is that it wouldn't change a damn thing.

My brother laughed at "shithole countries" and mused, "but is he *wrong?"

My mom still just shrugs about "locker room talk"

And one of my aunts follows an influencer whose take on current events is "you have to accept the bad with the good"

2/

There are times where I have idly fantasized about constructing a fake social media account embracing the MAGA movement with such mindless and illogical abandon that surely, surely it would trigger that "wait, this doesn't make sense" response or perhaps "do I really sound like that?"

1/

Let me say this plainly: Iranian children have as much of a right to live and thrive as American children.

Their babies MUST be as precious to me as my 6 niblings and my baby grandnib are IF I want them to have a future.

If I want a future for my kin AND humanity, I MUST act like it.

So must you.

sorry if this seems harsh but I don't think the president should be allowed to post "a whole civilization will die tonight" and still be president

Dickens: and what about you mary
Mary Shelley: what about me
Dickens: you're well known for your shivving
Dickens: how do i know you didn't turn that famous shiv on grip??
Shelley: how did grip die
Dickens: oh she drank a gallon of lead paint

And that shit's frustrating.

Which is all to say it was a really shitty way to be reminded of who someone is

I double-checked after we got back, just to be sure (shoot, if I'm going to accuse other people of being wrong I should make sure I have my own facts straight) and I felt vindicated, but the moment was past

12/

"He...he was president when it hit."

"Well, the quarantines started under Biden."

"No they didn't."

"Well it was on his way out."

"Literally no it wasn't, it landed stateside and the quarantines were a major factor in the election."

"Well, we're just gonna have to agree to disagree."

11/