Pidesco

While my examples were more generic authoritarian than fascist, a significant portion of Eco's list already applies to a tee to current situation in the US. That said, at this point, differentiating between authoritarianism and fascism is at best an interesting rhetorical exercise, at worse a distraction. Also whether the situation now is better or worse than in the Lindberg days, is really not that important. More important is where American political institutions and discourse stand now compared to ten, twenty or forty years ago. I'd argue things are moving in the wrong direction and accelerated dramatically with Trump's accession this year. Regarding your disappointments, I wasn't really surprised myself with either media or tech companies capitulating to Trump. Tech companies especially weren't so much capitulating but rather going mask off in the name of profits. Not all of them are run by complete nutso Peter Thiel, but the Zuckerbergs and Bezos and Musks of the world are not that far removed from Thiel.

Descent into fascism is a process not an end state. Examples: using government regulatory authorities to silence speech the powerful don't like. Plain clothes security forces rounding up people without due process. The Supreme Court using the shadow docket to push through blatantly unconstitutional decisions in favor of the current administration The rule of law being repeatedly ignored with no consequences I'd say that for the midterms to change anything the dems would have to have crushing victories in both the House and the Senate. I'm not sure, but I think in the Senate that's utterly impossible, even with the assumption of entirely free and fair elections. Also that assumption is becoming less and less guaranteed. Additionally, even if the dems win overwhelmingly, if they keep behaving in the same way they did during the Biden mandate, they will, at best, be an hiatus. I don't think Trump is necessary anymore, at this point the GOP seems entirely captured by its far right faction. Still, what happens to the GOP with a dead Trump is a bit of an open question. I sometimes have conversations with a colleague of mine who thinks Vance would be worse than Trump. I think he'd be a lame duck.

The one thing I enjoy about the US's descent into fascism is how quickly the constitution went from holy, sacred immutable document that must be followed how the founding fathers intended, to a piece of paper written specifically to be ignored.

Healthcare paid by taxes perhaps.

What is radical left ideology?

This is from 2019, but seems topical.

He fundamentally believed in the grift and the money that accompanied it. I'm just suggesting that we should treat his death by the same standards he treated others. He also didn't believe in empathy, so the people who are now sad about his death are just betraying the values Kirk stood for.

If you want clarity on what to think of this, Charlie Kirk got you covered. https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/charlie-kirk-its-worth-have-cost-unfortunately-some-gun-deaths-every-single-year-so-we

That's because you are being handled.

I would be surprised if it didn't run, but sure, it's possible. Of course, performance isn't going to be amazing, but I'd wager both Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 should be playable on your rig.

What are your current specs?

Avowed was surprisingly well optimised I felt, and I'm expecting the same from OW2.

I'm finding the writing a few notches below Witcher 3. Nothing anywhere close to the Baron quest, or to Hearts and Stone, even in Phantom Liberty. Also, I've just generally found Silverhand to be absolutely insufferable, which is not helped by digital Keanu being a bit worse than real Keanu at expressing emotion. Regarding the gameplay, quest design is often lacking, especially for stealth, and some quests just force you to shoot it out, regardless of your build. Player agency just is generally very limited in this gsme

I for one have never kept dozens consumable until the final boss, which were useless on the final boss fight. Anyone saying I did otherwise is a liar.

I've finally got to properly playing Cyberpunk and it's a fine enough game, even if it has definite problems. Phantom Liberty, especially, is really quite good. However, there was something that I was finding off putting about the whole experience that I couldn't quite put to words, until today. Keep in mind that I had only passing familiarity with the setting before actually getting to playing this. Cyberpunk 2077 is essentially a bunch of 80s nerds pretending they are in the future. And that just messes with my suspension of disbelief.

Iirc, I downloaded the latest patch manually back when I installed it.

F12. Which might be a problem with Steam.

I'm currently replaying the OC. Still my retail copy.

While the increased debt is a huge problem of many in this bill, it seems like it's the medicaid cuts that will be most disastrous. Obviously it will have direct consequences for the millions who depend on it to survive, but that's just the start, rural hospitals also depend on medicaid money to run at all, and the cuts will mean large areas of the US without access to any healthcare. Additionally, healthcare is the largest employment sector in the US and medicaid is one of the main sources of financing for the industry. So the economic consequences will also be catastrophic. Fun times for Americans, especially in MAGA land.

78 to 87 may just have been the best Marvel ever was in the 20th century.

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