My point is that I think authoritarianism is worse than liberal democracy, even when flawed. The trade of individual autonomy and democracy in exchange for promises of stability, progress, and equitable distribution of wealth is compelling for some that believe all the promises - but I don’t believe in the intrinsic good of the State. Liberal Democracy’s hands aren’t clean by any stretch, but there are mechanisms for recourse by citizens. Governments always think they know best, but authoritarian states have too much concentrated power. That the trains run on time, or the DOW is over 50000, or quality of life for Hong Kong is better than Guangdong does not excuse state brutality and once power is concentrated, brutality by force and mental/social control efforts are inevitable.

To me anyways

For a glimpse, see Hong Kong

It’s worth noting that everyday Dems often want very different things than the “leadership Dems” that are in power under corporate and foreign influence. I don’t want vassals - a tiny silver lining of Trump is American hegemony in decline. Thats only a good if Authoritarians don’t step into that gap. I hope EU can be the standard bearer and defender of liberal (as opposed to illiberal) democracy in the world until we get our shit together

I get it, we don’t deserve trust. What would you look for to decide we can be trusted again though? I’m worried we’d need to rewrite the constitution to put in serious guardrails of some sort. Congress and Judiciary were supposed to be the guardrail, and they’re failing pretty hard. What system can truly protect against bad actors with power?

I’m married and I don’t care. Good thing spouse doesn’t either

Seems like we all want to be as nutrient-conserved as possible! It’s too bad there are all the rules about proper disposal - I get why they’re there, but yeah, random hole for me. Tree on top sounds great

One weird trick! Terminal still scares me as well as installing from GitHub, but I have win11 required at work and mint at home and the speed and ease of use are like night and day

Yeah, I’m told that it takes practice. I usually just do intentional deep breaths. Works great for kids (IME at least)

You can’t make yourself calm down because our emotions control us, not the other way around - but you can control your breath and your breath can affect your emotions. Box breathing, 4-7-8, or even just deep “flower breaths”. All work great at centering yourself when emotions are getting out of hand

And if you don’t want to sneeze, put a finger under your nose like a fake mustache

I’ve gotta a new one : cashews

Like a sushi conveyer setup! It’s a big donut of pizza with diners set up inside and out. Cut a slice out where you want, add new dough and toppings, selectively fire to cook it. The eternal pizza…

Having given no thought to geometry or logistics: slices pre-rolled into a portable burrito form factor that’ll keep the toppings warm longer