IIRC, he was caught withholding congressionally allocated money from Ukraine in order to extort them into an investigation on Hunter Biden, in the hope it would impact the 2020 election. And I don’t recall any repercussions.

Power companies need the welfare now?

I was a court advocate for victims of domestic violence, volunteering at the same facility that had helped me escape an extreme situation. Having noticed that there was no federal, state, local, or private list of resources for people in crisis, I approached the director to request permission to compile a comprehensive guide and make it publicly available. Although I would’ve done it for free, the director saw the need and suggested this should be a highly-paid position; she announced the job opening to everyone at the next meeting.

A woman I’d never seen before expressed interest at the meeting, so I introduced myself and offered to collaborate to make the publication a success. We were scheduled to make our presentation to the board in a month. I gathered my half of the research and negotiated with businesses to donate materials and operating expenses, so that this program would be self-sustaining. I contacted the other woman every couple days to update her on what I’d accomplished, and to gather her data. She never had anything except excuses, so I gathered her share of the data, too.

On the day of the meeting, I’d done 100% of the work, which I’d happily shared with her, and I had put together the entire presentation. I didn’t mind, because this was a valuable community service. I arrived early for the meeting and sat outside the closed boardroom, waiting for my “partner”, but she never showed up.

At precisely the agreed-upon time for our meeting to start, the boardroom door opened and my partner emerged, grinning as everyone congratulated her. Yeah. I still didn’t get it.

I was ushered in and was asked to make my presentation. I was quickly interrupted because the board wanted to see MY efforts, not the work of the other woman. They accused me of stealing her work and told me to leave.

The other woman received a hefty salary for almost a year, but she never even bothered to use my research and connections to make even one flyer. Eventually she was fired and the failed community service idea became anathema to the facility.

That fucker changed the meeting time, stole my work and all the credit for it, scammed herself into the position, took the salary from the outreach budget, and destroyed the comprehensive resource list that would have helped tens of thousands of people in crisis.

Beginning retroactively with the 2021 heat wave that killed 1400 people in the Pacific Northwest:

The Shell Oil Heat Dome

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Western_North_America_heat_wave

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Arctic_drilling_protests

I have total Aphantasia. There’s no internal voice, ever. I’ve never pictured anything in my mind. No taste, touch, or smell can evoke a memory or whatever it is other people have. My husband says he battles negative voices from his past? I live in absolute peace.

Is there anything that's more obviously a "divide and conquer" tactic than all this unhinged generational bullshit?

It’s insane but effective. A friend who is 25 years younger than me angrily called me a Boomer because my husband and I bought a house in 2020, which means we had advantages that he didn’t get.

It was our first house, in rough shape, and it was through a VA loan. Every repair was DIY. Meanwhile, the guy who called me a Boomer inherited his house and massive acreage. Also, unlike that guy, we’re pro-union, politically active environmentalists who vote for progressive candidates. Just an absolute wtf moment.

The US has become a cautionary tale for:

• Refusing Universal Healthcare

• Opposing Racial and Cultural Equity

• Revoking Women’s Bodily Autonomy

• Expanding Excessive Incarceration

• Exonerating Police Violence

• Dismissing Effective Gun Control

• Ignoring Mass Shootings

• Denying Veteran and First Responder Care

• Allowing Environmental Toxins

• Approving Carcinogens in Food

• Condoning High Infant Mortality

• Eradicating LGTBQ+ Rights

• Encouraging Religion in Government

• Dismantling Social Services

• Rejecting Living Wage, Retirement, and Pension Issues

• Persecuting the Low-income and Homeless

• Promoting the Purchase of Politicians and Judges

HP lured me away from Apple about 15 years ago, with promises of better pay and benefits. I made the mistake of believing their lies, and proceeded to work in one of the most hostile environments I’d ever encountered. Aside from the open and constant sexual harassment, I was horrified to see customer service maliciously transfer callers to dead extensions or to the branch in the Philippines, then laugh about it. “Tech support” was for selling more products, not for resolving issues. Management was a shitshow of nepotism, falling-over-drunkenness, corruption, office affairs, and massive cover-ups.

I lasted 8 months, then I fled back to Apple, but I’ll never forget how HP blatantly loathed the customers.

I’ve lived for 7 years in California and 7 years in Texas. If states were like dogs, Californians would be friendly Labrador puppies - Texans are mean little dingoes.

Fuck dingoes. Fuck the Texas deregulated, off-grid, exploitative electric industry. Fuck Texas for the systematic elimination of human rights and fuck Texas for destroying education. Fuck the blatant Texas voter suppression. Fuck Texas all the way back to their sacred War of Northern Aggression, and fuck them deep into their nasty Gulf of discarded medical supplies, oil slicks, and detritus.

The Democratic National Convention of August, 1968 was in Chicago. It was marked by massive riots, after the April and June assassinations of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr and Democratic POTUS candidate Robert Kennedy, respectively. It was triggered by many issues, including anti-Vietnam War sentiment.

Interestingly, the August, 2024 DNC will be in Chicago. Maybe it’s time for the people of the United States to come together for another “year that breaks America”, and fight for the need to eliminate the DNC/RNC corporate stranglehold and work toward establishing a ranked voting system.

Or we could continue to choose between happy uncle fascist or bloated grifter fascist.

There are some philosophical undertones here, and I’m wondering what you really want to ask. Could you elaborate?

We ALL need to do what you’ve been doing.

My household eliminated plastic and non-stick items. We’ve been using only cast iron and stainless steel for stovetop, glass and stainless steel for oven and mixing, glass and stainless for eating. Even the pets’ bowls are stainless steel.

Plastics and Teflon coatings are pure poison.