So we (the working and shrinking middle class) are still paying our taxes. But now our taxes are going to Argentinian ranchers, and gaudy and unnecessary ballrooms.

Meanwhile those who are financially willing and able are helping out their family, friends, and neighbors in need to not starve. Which is basically an unofficial extra tax - on top of the extra expenses charged to us via frivolous tariffs.

What a fucking joke. Every time I think the government can’t get any more flagrantly greedy and irresponsible, they find a way.

Yup, gotta make sure it doesn’t go off.

Well now you’re on her ‘don’t like’ list.

A lot of the comments here seem to be missing some key points from this article:

• The writer made her own likeness available to everyone on purpose. She did this knowing what would happen, but it was part of the exercise of seeing how weird it would get. So the points that she was stupid for doing, or that she was outraged by this, this are missing the point. Was she stupid? Maybe, but she made a conscious sacrifice on her likeliness. Was she outraged? Clearly not.
• It’s short-sighted to say “yeah this will happen, so don’t put your is image out there”. There are lots of people (especially women and girls) who have gone out of the way to avoid having their image/likeness out there for these it similar reasons. But they have still ended up the victim of humiliation and trauma from photoshopped images or deep fakes made against them.
• This second point was a big part of what the author was trying to point out. It’s both a warning to others about being careful of protecting your identity, and an alarm sounding that there are some really weird and creepy fetishes out there that people can get their likelinesses pulled into, even when you actively try to avoid that.
• It also highlights the lack of safeguards on this kind of issue. Consent, age, level of fame… none of that matters in this issue. And in most cases the companies behind these tools don’t do shit to address these concerns.

As I recall, there were some fiscal shenanigans with that, which led to the budget looking balanced/with a surplus but it wasn’t exactly that way. Something about kicking some debt into future years.

But still, your point is still good. We were far better fiscally then than we are now. It’s pretty horrifying to see how far we have gone off track over the last 25 years. Especially since the ‘party of fiscal responsibility’ was the one that send to have caused the majority of that debt.

Scooby is clearly a very good boy!

Well that’s terrifying.

To the surprise of nobody.

TBF the British played a big part in the Whitehouse ‘renovations’ back then (in 1814).

So the party that’s supposedly against government waste and is ‘America first’ is buying lots of luxury stuff for the Secretary of Puppy Murder and pouring billions into Argentina. Got it.

Here’s the “top 10” list (there are a lot of countries tied), if anyone was interested, like I was:

• Singapore 1st 193
• South Korea 2nd 190
• Japan 3rd 189
• Germany 4th 188
• Italy 4th 188
• Luxembourg 4th 188
• Spain 4th 188
• Switzerland 4th 188
• Austria 5th 187
• Belgium 5th 187
• Denmark 5th 187
• Finland 5th 187
• France 5th 187
• Ireland 5th 187
• Netherlands 5th 187
• Greece 6th 186
• Hungary 6th 186
• New Zealand 6th 186
• Norway 6th 186
• Portugal 6th 186
• Sweden 6th 186
• Australia 7th 185
• Czechia 7th 185
• Malta 7th 185
• Poland 7th 185
• Croatia 8th 184
• Estonia 8th 184
• Slovakia 8th 184
• Slovenia 8th 184
• United Arab Emirates 8th 184
• United Kingdom 8th 184
• Canada 9th 183
• Latvia 10th 182
• Liechtenstein 10th 182

The US ranks joint 12th with Malaysia.

Source.

“The beatings will continue until morale improves!”

A few counterpoints to the circumcision pros that you mentioned:

• Circumcision rates are dropping across America. In some areas they ared dropping faster than others, but from what I recall the get are basically dropping everywhere to some degree. So I expect bullying about it is on the decline as it becomes less common.

• Also, the simple fact is that bullies will find any reason to be shitheads. So if it’s not circumcision it’ll be something else.

• Any straight women who are grossed out by a natural penis are idiots, and your kid will be dodging an asshole bullet if they do reject him over that.

• Better to let him decide if he wants to get it cut later or leave it uncut than to take away his free agency.

Ah yes, the latest episode in the ongoing saga of "Putin fabricates bullshit to try to distract the Russian people from the misery and suffering he’s putting them through.

That’s why she wants to speak to the manager… of the hurricane classification department.

‘Fat’ soldiers are fired. Meanwhile, ICE is expanding their already burgeoning Meal Team Six battalions.

One thing I’ve learned from some extended family members is that substance abuse programs only work if the person actively wants to try to get clean.

Massive respect to those people who work hard to get clean. And everyone involved should be given the opportunity. But sadly, a fair chunk of substance abusers utilize such programs only as a way to get family and authorities off their back for a while.

Same thing goes for mental health resources for serious psychological conditions. If you refuse to accept you have a grave condition then no amount of treatment will work.

But… Microplastics are what brains crave! They’ve got electrolytes!

That’s just crazy talk!

Yes