How does the World view America these days?

[auxien]

16 minutes ago, Rubin Farr said:

https://kvta4.com/news/upset-with-non-tipping-customers-pizza-delivery-driver-squirts-her-vaginal-juices-all-over-their-pizzas/

um

[Rubin Farr]

59 minutes ago, auxien said:

um

“News you can count on to let you down”

[cwmbrancity]

https://futurism.com/neoscope/american-laxatives-shortage

[auxien]

13 minutes ago, cwmbrancity said:

https://futurism.com/neoscope/american-laxatives-shortage

if anything you’d think we’re producing too much shit

[ignatius]

 

[Satans Little Helper]

DFW is so f-ing brilliant. Incredible mind.

 

Bless his soul

[Rubin Farr]

 

[ignatius]

On 9/14/2023 at 3:04 PM, Satans Little Helper said:

DFW is so f-ing brilliant. Incredible mind.

 

Bless his soul

yeah. i miss him. the story about how he switched meds because of side effects.. to upgrade to more modern meds w/less side effects and fewer interactions.. they didn't work. then when he switched back to his old meds the synapses had closed up or whatever.. which is a risk he knew about... but was a small risk i guess.. anyway.. old meds didn't work and then he was just dealing w/the depression full on.  one of his fellow writer friends described his last years as trying to write his way out of boredom... which is where the Pale King comes from i guess. it has some brilliant passages but is very raw and woefully unfinished. there's also a whole section that is basically lifted from an interview of Beck in the 90s.. it's well used in the Pale King but i recognized it immediately because there's such a memorable story. I wish the Pale King was finished. it had some really amazing bits and some LOL moments but was buried in the tedium of accounting and IRS culture. 

anyway.. i've been fascinated w/him and his work for a long time and read it all more than once and 3 or so times for some of it.  several years ago during the #meToo era a story came out about a woman he was obsessed with who was married.. she alleged he threw her out of a moving car.. basically was dropping her off and didn't come to a complete stop and pushed her out the door.  he stalked her or something and also tried to hire someone to kill her husband. this makes me think he was deep in some kind of psychosis.. not to make excuses.. but i wish he was around to speak to that. she is also a writer and her work didn't gain much interest when compared to David Foster Wallace and is one of the things she spoke about.. as if anyone of that era got attention like he did for his work, Infinite Jest, which is kind of a big deal. not many people got the kind of attention he got. 

blah..

anyway, how about this?

edit: oh also this

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by ignatius

[iococoi]

Quote

The Comic Book That Saw the Future (1947)

How a vintage comic warned us of the authoritarianism of Trump, DeSantis and the ultra-right

https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/the-comic-book-that-saw-the-future

[Rubin Farr]

 

[iococoi]

Quote

U.S. averaging 2 mass shootings per day so far this year

[Squee]

59 minutes ago, iococoi said:

Congratulations. You've got people shooting each other and people debating Barbie.

[cern]

My view on Americans these days? 

Kinda sad that more and more people getting in to poverty and it is huge pressure on young adults almost impossible to afford a house and get a decent job. 
Same time the big cooperations getting richer and richer and doing deals with the politics so they can skip the tax pressure + buying properties so they can rent it out to poor people and doing big profits. 

It is all fucked up and corrupt there!

I get that people hate Trump here on WATMM.. But does Biden do something about this shit going on there? 

[Rubin Farr]

3 hours ago, cern said:

My view on Americans these days? 

Kinda sad that more and more people getting in to poverty and it is huge pressure on young adults almost impossible to afford a house and get a decent job. 
Same time the big cooperations getting richer and richer and doing deals with the politics so they can skip the tax pressure + buying properties so they can rent it out to poor people and doing big profits. 

It is all fucked up and corrupt there!

I get that people hate Trump here on WATMM.. But does Biden do something about this shit going on there? 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/cleanenergy/inflation-reduction-act-guidebook/
 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/06/fact-sheet-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-deal/
 

https://www.cms.gov/files/document/fact-sheet-medicare-selected-drug-negotiation-list-ipay-2026.pdf

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/24/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-student-loan-relief-for-borrowers-who-need-it-most/

https://www.semiconductors.org/chips/

The student loan forgiveness process is in flux, not sure how it will end up. My loan was recently transferred from a TPD, to an income-based repayment program, even though my loans were already forgiven. Who knows what the final form of that law will/won’t be. The income equality situation here has worsened, and there’s not much the executive branch can do on its own to curb that. The CHIPS Act is a big one, which most of our citizens don’t understand, TSMC has an ungodly worldwide monopoly on the semiconductor industry, and they are based in Taiwan, making it an even more tempting target for a Chinese invasion/takeover.

 

Edit - also, Insulin price cap:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/02/fact-sheet-president-bidens-cap-on-the-cost-of-insulin-could-benefit-millions-of-americans-in-all-50-states/#:~:text=Eli Lilly announced they are,fifty states and U.S. territories.

[ignatius]

3 hours ago, cern said:

get that people hate Trump here on WATMM.. But does Biden do something about this shit going on there? 

also worth mentioning that trump is a landlord. he was sued by the DOJ for denying apartments to black people. he lost that case. also, his son in law  Kushner is a slum lord. predatory landlord that basically extorts money from poor people and low/middle class people via rent fines/fees for all kinds of shit. there's documentaries about how they work. he's a huge piece of shit. these are not good people. whatever biden's flaws are, and i know he has many and a not so flattering legislative history (like many his age who were in congress), he's still the better choice over trump and the people he surrounds himself with. i think biden is the best version of himself, currently. that doesn't mean he's come to his senses about everything but he's certainly seen the light on some issues.. still gets it all wrong on others though.. but as a person who votes for harm reduction he's who i voted for. there's not a candidate under the sun who is going to be all the things i want a president to be.. but it's clearly possible to vote for someone who might get a few things right, help make life better for some people. it's pretty much how it goes. i've thought there's always a clear choice but sunlight isn't shining out the ass of any of these people. 

as a reminder.. if you want a recap of Bush Vs. Gore and how different things might've been under gore.. just watch this short doc about how the bush admin was talking to each other about iraq, terrorism etc. these are leaked memos of what went on. 

 

[zero]

4 hours ago, cern said:

Kinda sad that more and more people getting in to poverty and it is huge pressure on young adults almost impossible to afford a house and get a decent job. 
Same time the big cooperations getting richer and richer and doing deals with the politics so they can skip the tax pressure + buying properties so they can rent it out to poor people and doing big profits. 

this is not just a 'merican problem tho...similar shit is happening in other capitalist countries. 

 

4 hours ago, cern said:

It is all fucked up and corrupt there!

lol don't you live in Thailand? corruption here is nada compared to many, many other countries in the world. in fact, people from places far more corrupt than the US still would sacrifice as much as they possibly can just to get here, so they can live their lives without the threat of corrupt govt assholes / police coming to mess with them. the media may play into the US govt corruption element, and yes, trump is by far the worst fake president/wannabe dictator this country has ever had...but it is still possible to find a job and make enough to send back home to support extended family. 

[cern]

Yeah a bit corruption but it is getting better because the new leaders want to stop the king from taking money and that he do business with Military junta. 

Here is more chill with the drugs also.. Legal with weed etc..Not a big problem with heavy drugs.
In USA there is a big Fentanyl epidemic.. There is big towns with homeless zombies there etc and it is getting worse!  
I think it is the same shit yes but yeah crazy men like Trump Is little bit dangerous. 

His Twitter messages just spread around the news all the fucking time I remember. 

[zero]

24 minutes ago, cern said:

Yeah a bit corruption but it is getting better because the new leaders want to stop the king from taking money and that he do business with Military junta. 

Here is more chill with the drugs also.. Legal with weed etc..Not a big problem with heavy drugs.
In USA there is a big Fentanyl epidemic.. There is big towns with homeless zombies there etc and it is getting worse!  
I think it is the same shit yes but yeah crazy men like Trump Is little bit dangerous. 

His Twitter messages just spread around the news all the fucking time I remember. 

not to divert too far into Thai politics in the USA thread... but I know over there they had a democratic election and determined a winner after the votes were tallied. then the corrupt govt officials stepped in, and more or less said the guy who won was not gonna become president. now the guy who won is 100% done trying to fight it, and whoever tf they want to become the next president is pushed into power. nice try democracy! the relation to the US here is THIS is exactly what trump wants to happen in this country. and the republicans cheering him on are trying their best to make it happen. yeah it is nuts compared to how the US was once perceived out there in the world.

re: drugs. Thailand only recently legalized herb. before that was prison for a seed. I know there still are big problems with yaba (meth + caffeine) in the poorer farmer towns. same as it is here in the US with opiods in the smaller rural places. homelessness...yes I agree it is much worse now here in major US cities than it was 15-20 years ago.

[cern]

12 minutes ago, zero said:

not to divert too far into Thai politics in the USA thread... but I know over there they had a democratic election and determined a winner after the votes were tallied. then the corrupt govt officials stepped in, and more or less said the guy who won was not gonna become president. now the guy who won is 100% done trying to fight it, and whoever tf they want to become the next president is pushed into power. nice try democracy! the relation to the US here is THIS is exactly what trump wants to happen in this country. and the republicans cheering him on are trying their best to make it happen. yeah it is nuts compared to how the US was once perceived out there in the world.

re: drugs. Thailand only recently legalized herb. before that was prison for a seed. I know there still are big problems with yaba (meth + caffeine) in the poorer farmer towns. same as it is here in the US with opiods in the smaller rural places. homelessness...yes I agree it is much worse now here in major US cities than it was 15-20 years ago.

Yes it is tragic and no Democracy. 

The thing with the strict drug punishment here is quite good.. I like it.  
If you get caught caring heavy drugs or guns then you are totally screwed here! And they don't care about human rights when you are put in prison, they want you rot in there. 

I can tell you as I have tried Yaba and it is so light! A small line of coke is like 10 times stronger than Yaba. 
It is mostly workers who takes it to fight the hard working days like people In Somalia chewing Khat. Can not even compare it to the danger of Heroine or Fentanyl. 

In the states Mexican cartels smuggling in alot of Fentanyl.. 
How are they fixing that problem? Didn't Trump start to build a wall there or what happened? 

 

[ignatius]

2 hours ago, cern said:

Didn't Trump start to build a wall there or what happened? 

 Wall is irrelevant. Even if they finished it people can go over or under it easily. 
 

also lots of drugs coming from china

Edited September 18, 2023 by ignatius

[Rubin Farr]

[Walter Ostanek]

On 9/18/2023 at 11:01 AM, ignatius said:

ush Vs. Gore and how different things might've been under gore.. just watch this short doc about how the bush admin was talking to each other about iraq, terrorism etc. these are leaked memos of what went on. 

 

lol I remember in the mid 2000s reading the Conservapedia article on Blair, twisting itself into knots trying to square Blair's background in a historically socialist party with his role as Bush's lapdog in his righteous (and very Christian) neoliberal crusade 

[Walter Ostanek]

On 9/18/2023 at 11:44 AM, zero said:

lol don't you live in Thailand? corruption here is nada compared to many, many other countries in the world. in fact, people from places far more corrupt than the US still would sacrifice as much as they possibly can just to get here, so they can live their lives without the threat of corrupt govt assholes / police coming to mess with them. the media may play into the US govt corruption element, and yes, trump is by far the worst fake president/wannabe dictator this country has ever had...but it is still possible to find a job and make enough to send back home to support extended family. 

Early on in the Ukraine war one of the refugee families I helped out was Lebanese-Ukrainian (from Mariupol). The Lebanese guy couldn't believe that Ukraine was seen as corrupt internationally: "what the fuck? it's nothing compared to Lebanon! We invented corruption!" - he then launched into a passionate defense of the ol' you-scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours as a resurrection of the pre-capitalist barter system (since, according to him, it often involves goods more than cash), and something that improves efficiency in otherwise terminally cumbersome bureaucracies. Strange chap, I'm still friendly with him but he has his idiosyncracies

[ignatius]

 

[ignatius]

interesting piece

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/11/4/we-are-all-detroit-2019

We can pretend that Detroit is a case of corruption or incompetence or racial issues or globalization—and there are certainly many nuances and complexities—but at the end of the day, what has happened and is happening in Detroit has a lot of commonality with nearly every other city in this country.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by ignatius