balderdash9

If society is at the point where we're making dictators then you likely have to be an immoral POS to stay in power. At every stage below you there are opportunistic people who want to take your spot.

Obligatory "salid mixer" adult swim skit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjZRWNg8k_M

Persona 5 Royale on Steam Deck. JRPGs and handhelds are a match made in heaven. My only complaint is every time I think that I've escaped the tutorial, there's more tutorial lol.

The widest of backs

Turn anything into poo: turn plastic waste into manure/fertilizer. Millionaire pretty quick. Could also become a supervillian.

In early stages, the meditator sharpens their powers of concentration/mindfulness. In later stages, the meditator no longer has scattered attention (i.e., "monkey brain") and can focus effortlessly. So the monkey disappears. Excerpt from "The Mind Illuminated":

The Ten Stages of Meditation: The monk is the meditator. The rope he holds represents vigilant, alert mindfulness. The goad in his other hand represents strong intention and firm resolve. The elephant represents the mind. The black color of the elephant represents the Five Hindrances and the Seven Problems they give rise to. The monkey represents scattering of attention, and the black color represents subtle and gross distraction, forgetting, and mind-wandering. The rabbit represents subtle dullness. The flames represent vigilance and effort, and when effort is no longer required, the flames disappear. The length of the road between successive Stages indicates the relative time required to progress from one Stage to the next. The Stages come closer together until Stage Seven, then they begin to stretch out again. Because the road folds back, it is possible to jump up to higher Stages or fall back to lower ones.

This man is on stage 9 of the 10 stage path

edit: Source: The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness

Yes, the decline of our institutions is more blatant now. But it's a difference of degree, not of kind.

• Congresspersons, on the left and right, have been insider trading for decades.
• The SCOTUS ruled that corporations are people that have unlimited "free speech" with their money.
• Bush started targeting terrorists with drones and now the U.S. president can order drone strikes. (Some have called Obama a war criminal due to excessive civilian casualties resulting from drone strikes. But Americans don't really care about this.)
• Biden bombed Yemen without congressional approval and now Trump has bombed Iran.
• Bush sent "enemy combatants" to Guantanamo Bay without due process. Now Trump sends "illegal aliens" to detention camps without due process.
• The CIA has brazenly declassified many covert operations to stop the spread of communism. Including installing brutal dictators and interfering with democratic elections. (They admit to doing this but, again, Americans do not care.)
• Bush and Obama both bailed out corporations that are "too big to fail".
• Questionable wars in Asia and the Middle East that fed the military industrial complex and made a well-positioned few unimaginably wealthy.

You likely disagree with some of these examples. But my point is only this: Trump is the symptom of a disease that we have ignored for far too long. We all pledged allegiance to the flag in school. We all learned that America stands for liberty, justice, equality, etc. for all. But this country has never lived up to those professed ideals.

When has the United States government ever been ethical? The older I get the more I realize that I live in the Death Star.

Vote blue no matter who!.... unless they're a filthy fucking socialist 🙄