I believe true patriotism isn’t just about loving your country, it’s about holding it accountable to its ideals. I love America deeply, and I honor those who sacrificed to uphold its founding principles. But I also see how words like ‘freedom’ and ‘patriotism’ have been misused, often twisted into tools for division or control. To me, being a patriot means seeking truth, learning from history, and speaking out when those values are betrayed. It’s about striving to make the country better, not pretending it’s perfect.

I wasn’t trying to be rude. It just seemed like you were suggesting the preventative injectable could be worse than AIDS itself, and I was genuinely asking why that would be scarier.

I’m sorry you’ve had such a rough experience with HIV treatment. That sounds genuinely awful. But just to clarify, the medication being discussed here is preventative, not treatment after infection. It likely has a different side effect profile because its purpose is prevention, not management of the disease.

If anything, your experience actually makes the case for a reliable preventative even stronger.

I understand where you’re coming from based on what you’ve been through, but I think we’re talking about two very different situations.

Tipping isn’t gratitude, it’s a system that lets corporations avoid paying workers a living wage. The barista earns a few bucks an hour, relying on tips to survive because the company doesn’t want to pay them fairly.

It’s not the barista’s fault. The corpos’ use them as leverage to perpetuate their shitty behavior. If you don’t tip, they suffer, not the business. That’s emotional blackmail dressed up as generosity.

If we keep tipping just to hold the system together, it never has to change. Real change would mean companies paying fair, livable wages up front, even if it makes the coffee more expensive. I’m fine with that and I feel others should be too.

Tipping should be a “thank you”, not a lifeline.

If we truly cared about baristas, we wouldn’t just tip, we would be be advocating for a better system that doesn’t force them to depend on tips to survive. A mass refusal to participate in this broken model is the kind of disruption that could force companies to actually pay fair wages.

Instead, we keep tipping because it feels easier and safer in the moment even though it traps workers in a cycle of dependence. I get it. It’s uncomfortable to stop doing what feels like the right thing. But sometimes, real support looks like pushing for change, not maintaining the illusion of it.

Scarier than AIDS?

You sure can! Just contact CoreCivic, GEO Group, or MTC for all your legal slavery needs!

Nobody today, Republican senator tomorrow.

He’s wearing a hat on a hat.

The news of it happening doesn’t land like the video of it happening does.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMMm-ePtVfU/

It’s fucking brutal.

It absolutely baffles me that people are willing to spend that kind of money on low-quality takeout food that often arrives cold. I live just five minutes away from several five-star restaurants. If I wanted to, I could call ahead and pick up a fresh, high-quality meal in half the time it takes for a soggy, lukewarm fast food burger to show up at my doorstep—and I’d pay only a third of the price.

I genuinely don’t understand the appeal.

This is probably a real tweet, but I am not going to verify. I’m just not going to do it anymore. I have lost count of the times I have doubled checked to see if the meme or screenshot is from a real tweet and it turns out to be true.

This is my life. Plus 2 cats.

I made this comment to my wife recently. I have a total of 2600 photos on my Google account going back 18 years. 1/2 of those are of my cats. I’ve only had cats for 4 years.

UC Davis has a video on how to build one.

Egg Drop Soup.

Egg Drop is a cute name.

Calling out hypocrisy can be valid but it must further discussion, not shut it down. In your example, if country A is committing genocide while condemning country B for genocide, the problem isn’t just country B’s actions. It’s that country A is deflecting from its own crimes instead of addressing them.

Saying ‘what about your genocide’ only matters if it leads to accountability for both. If it’s just used to avoid taking responsibility, then it’s whataboutism. It shifts the focus without solving anything.

To reiterate, whataboutism is deflection meant to shut down further discussion.

“Whataboutism” is one of the most prevalent logical fallacies. It never makes any sense.

I was raised to love my neighbor, to respond to hate with compassion, to tell the truth even when it hurt. I was taught that these were Christian values and by extension, American ones. We were the country that believed in freedom of thought, the integrity of history, and moral courage.

But now I see many of the same people who taught me those values embracing a movement built on denial, grievance, and revisionist history. They’ve tied themselves to a man who mocks truth, glorifies cruelty, and demands loyalty over integrity.

And the saddest part? We used to look at other nations and say, “That could never happen here.” But it is happening here. And it’s not being forced on us, we’re choosing it.

The cost of that betrayal isn’t some distant consequence we’ll face down the road. It’s already here. The values they abandoned didn’t slowly fade, they were cast aside, willingly, and replaced with something hollow. This isn’t a detour. It’s the destination. And the people who once preached righteousness have no intention of turning back.

What I love most about this is he works in health care insurance. His boss tells him he’s not denying enough claims. Very American indeed.

https://youtu.be/QhfFoM1FfYc

… what?

Yeah, that’s a totally fair concern and is one of the points the episode addresses. Researchers acknowledged that the definition has broadened, but they also emphasized that it reflects a better understanding of autism as a spectrum. It does make the label less specific, but it’s also helped a lot of people. Especially women and people of color. It helped them get more accurate diagnoses instead of being misdiagnosed or ignored.

Overall, it’s a stat worth celebrating as it means more people are getting the support they needed all along.