zabadoh

Even if you don't want deign to give Trump himself credit, he's got very smart lieutenants working for him, like that Susie Wiles who co-managed his by-all-accounts "disciplined" campaign and was named Chief Of Staff a couple of days ago.

It's probably most famously the name of the lead heroine in the Sailor Moon anime and manga, hence it's a girl's name, and on the hurricane/typhoon name list.

I have no idea how many Japanese girls are actually named Usagi.

Maybe an anime fan had input to the name list, and we can expect Typhoon Madoka some time.

You do realize why Trump is doing these wild nominations is to distract from whatever else he will have cooking when he takes office.

Less flashy, but more consequential things like even more tax cuts for billionaires, pardoning himself for anything and everything, installing corrupt MAGAts in place of career civil servants, Supreme Court nominations, gutting securities/education/food/communications regulators, gutting the State Department and other instruments of our foreign policy, anything else in Project 2025, etc.

Trump could care less whether it ruins life for the 99% of us.

Haha, point taken.

Back in 1991, when the first Civilization game came out, Madonna wasn't the "elder statesman" that she is today.

Not so much just getting rid of the Democratic Party, but the whole 2 party system, "we vs. they" bollocks that just pits Americans against each other instead of representing our interests.

But a presidential election isn't the time to build new viable political parties.

That needs to happen at the county and state level before it crosses state lines and goes national.

But it would take extraordinary courage and resources to break with such long standing institutions as the two major parties.

With corporations and increasingly wealthy oligarchs in control of broadcast, cable and social media, I don't know how any meaningful movement could maintain both viability and independence, even if it had a strong start.

Remember so many movements like the Greens, the Reform, and the Coffee parties that just petered out to nothing or were absorbed or subsumed as tools by the major parties.

This reminds me of that feature in the first Civilization game where the portraits of your advisors change, depending on what type of government you have: Democracy, Republic, Communism, etc.

Under Anarchy, your foreign minister was Madonna, your military advisor was a banana republic general, science advisor a drug dealer, etc. https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Advisor_(Civ1)?file=Advisors_%28Civ1%29.png

This is like that.

The Democrats are overly centralized for their diverse coalition, and can't please all of the ethnic groups, working class, indistinguishable middle class, and billionaire donors.

Can we have viable 3rd parties please?

And please don't start with a presidential election, just get on local city and town councils, school boards and build from there.

We’ll be lucky if term 2 is just like term 1. That would mean the ACA would survive, no detention camps would be built, and they don’t find a way to deploy the US military to go grab the immigrants and any effective political opposition put them into camps.

Fixed that for you.

The rocks will look different when their chemistry will change when exposed to a warmer climate, different climate migrating species grow on them, and they're covered in micro plastics, and worn down by more acidic rains.

And possibly become radioactive if things don't go right.

Unless the R's hold their constitutional convention and crown Trump Emperor

Do kids still play marbles these days?

Reminds me of the many times I lost face.