I’m not, because I voted for Harris. That doesn’t mean I don’t understand why Gen Zs refused. I think they have a good point.

They also felt betrayed about student loans, which is one of the biggest looming time bombs in American society. It is only a matter of time before the student loan crisis collapses our economy, and NOBODY is bothering to deal with it at all.

Gen Zs are going to inherit this country that is being destroyed right before their eyes. Rather than disparaging them, perhaps you should try to understand the sources of their despair. They’ll vote if it feels like it will make a difference to anyone other than those who are exploiting them.

There’s worse songs.

I have been an Unafilliated Independent since I registered to vote in 1977. Neither party can win without me, but they can’t count on my vote. If they want my vote, they have to EARN it, and they even seldom try.

You haven’t noticed that MAGAs routinely equate Socialism with Communism, and are constantly screaming about Commies when they talk about Socialists? Where have you been?

And your charges against Gen Zs is an enormous generalization. I know lots of Gen Zs, and they definitely want major change, and they have their agenda and list of objectives, but they’ll still vote.

The main reason they didn’t vote last time wasn’t because they were angry about some minor issue, it was because they felt that BOTH sides were enthusiastically supporting the Gaza Genocide, which was true, and they refused to support either one. Genocide is not a small issue, and it is an issue worth fighting for.

If the Biden administration had committed to ending the genocide, Kamala Harris would be president today.

Worth noting that most of the time oil (newly discovered natural resources really)makes a country poorer than richer. See Venezuela and such.

Hmm, somebody should let the Middle East know that they’re poor.

More likely, the discovery of oil attracts the worst kind of industrialists, who will exploit the workers into abject poverty, and take all the wealth. It isn’t the oil that makes the people poor, it is the government who sells them out.

If that were true, they would have already done it.

They scream about taxes and such, but they know that they are in the very best country in the world to get super wealthy. It’s relatively easy to get access to money, systemic corruption is relatively low, and legal bribery is build into the system. The government is literally based on Capitalism.

Sure, they threaten to leave if their billion dollars is threatened with a 1% increase in taxes, but they won’t, because they know that the American economic system is what gave them the billion dollars in the first place. They’re just being whiney little bitches.

These people will lie to you to make you help them get what they want, at YOUR expense. You aren’t obligated to believe them, or help them.

Excellent points. I like your analogy of economic power to nuclear power.

We’ve already seen Musk throwing his economic weight around like a nation, threatening to turn Starlink on and off over war zones based on his own needs, and not the national security of any of the nations involved.

When Sociopathic Oligarchs with Hoarding OCD, start accumulating such economic power that they can compete with nations, then they have reached their limit. It will only get worse, as more and more of them start negotiating their own deals, possibly to the detriment of the very nation of which they are a citizen.

Then it’s only a matter of time before these Oligarchs start building private Armies, and then form alliances that can really throw their weight around. Or worse, start wars with each other over private beefs, that catch innocent citizens in their crossfire.

These things are easily predictable, if something isn’t done to blunt the power of these out-of-control fortunes. Otherwise, we will be sitting here in the not-so-distant future, wondering why we didn’t do something about these psychopaths when we had the chance.

There have been multiple winning Socialists, including Bernie, AOC,ax Frost, and others. Their success and popularity is making people interested in voting for more Socialists. Gen Zs are especially open to the idea. You can’t intimidate them with talk of Commies, they think any alternative to what we’ve got now is worth hearing about.

Because I already have a teaspoon. I also could just drizzle it straight out of the bear shaped bottle.

No, I mean that as a kid, I wanted to say every syllable, but I found it difficult. I could hear adults saying it the easy way, but I wanted to know the real word. I loved to read as a kid, and soaked up every word I could find.

I can’t believe that people are getting offended by a mild joke that even Dinklage would probably think is funny. He knows he’s short, you know.

People with characteristics that get made fun of, all know they have these characteristics, they live with them every day. They just want it to be normal, and not have it pointed out all the time. They don’t mind when someone notices something obvious, they mind when the response is mean-spirited or ignorant.

Dinklage holding a shield is nothing, until it gets compared to a guitar pick. That’s not mean-spirited, it doesn’t make fun of him, or present him as less human, it simply highlights a physical difference that is funny IN THAT CONTEXT.

I would never make fun of a small person for their size alone (their politics is fair game), but come on, some things are just objectively amusing, and this is one of them.

But it’s ALWAYS okay to make fun of guitarists.

If they ain’t Jazz IIIs, they suck. - Guitar Gatekeepers

Or you could use a teaspoon.

For most new native English speakers, it’s Spaghetti (pisketty) and Elephant (efalent). For my son it was Caterpillar (calapitter). I struggled with pronouncing Uncomfortable. I wanted to say every syllable.

Skwrl - no vowels

Rural juror.

I’d suggest “choppers” but it would probably come out “knockers.”

Subaru is selling cars during the holiday season by telling a totally unrelated story about teens with cancer who are going to die before their prom. Easily the most exploitive commercial on TV.

That’s kind of amazing that this ad campaign got off the ground.

Someone in marketing had to have that idea (it’s an apple for the teacher, right? So we tie it to a show about a school, see?), then sell it through the entire corporate chain for approval from the top. Then someone in graphics had to design the prototype sticker. Then someone in sales had to identify who to sell it to, make the pitch, and close the deal.

So how much new viewership can ABC hope to get from this? How much money does the apple distributor get for this? The answer to both gas to be “Not much.” It seems like a lot of effort for not a lot of gain for anyone involved, except maybe the sale guy who gets a nice commission.

It just occurred to me that I probably have it backwards. ABC thought of the apple tie-in for their popular school show, and pitched apple companies until one agreed.

Welcome to my thought process.