I’m hardly breaking new ground in my assertion here, even if you personally don’t agree.

If you somehow don’t realize how progressive and working class interests were kicked to the curb in favor of courting those (still) elusive republican votes there are many, many opinion pieces out that that can detail it more eloquently than I.

Here’s but one paragraph from but one such article:

The Democrats\u2019 sharp turn to the right can be mapped through their party platforms and political programs. In 2020, they offered a “new social and economic contract” of “shared prosperity” and racial justice. By 2024, Harris and running mate Tim Walz failed to directly or meaningfully mention the impacts of racism, police brutality, inequality or diversity in their 82-page policy platform.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/progressives-left-kamala-harris-election-2024-democrats-resistance

And look at all the good it did them:

The old guard (both literal and figurative) need to get the fuck out of the way for the AOC’s and Crockett’s who will actually speak to power instead of cowering in the corners.

They sure as eff do!

What they did was court Republican voters instead of Democrat voters, and neither Republicans nor Democrats were amused.

I think we can do without this sort of reddit-like passive aggressive backbiting here.

You are welcome but it’s not my OC. Please steal and use it! (even if it was)

So those “have the day you voted for” stickers are actually working in some cases!

Yeah it was rough. But in the same sense that I’m glad I didn’t own a sportbike when I was young (because I’m certain I’d have hurt myself or others with it at that age), it’s probably not a bad thing that I got some firm discouragement against that kind of experimentation. It didn’t end my experimentation, but it certainly helped me realize I wasn’t immortal.

(I do none of that kind of thing for decades now. Just nothing I want to mess with these days.)

It’s a great episode and late in the show - I’d suggest don’t skip to it. IIRC it’s an episode that will hit harder if you have seen everything that led up to that point. (Which will make sense when you see it.)

Clearly for some folks it’s great. I dunno maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. It hits you all at once, there is no buildup, and that may have contributed to me freaking out.

Don’t get me wrong, I intended my comment as a warning, but with a trusted sitter in a safe space maybe someone else will have a better first time.

My understanding is it’s not a particularly high risk drug, despite how intensely it kicks you (or at least me) in the face. (but again, don’t take my word for it)

Updated! :)

Thought police here we come…

There are going to be so many verses of the updated “First they came for…” poem when this is all done.

I had no hallucinations - they may have been inhibited by my absolute panic.

It was a very long time ago for me but from what I can recall -

I felt immediately mostly disconnected from my body, and like I was constantly falling or about to fall. I essentially laid there starfished on the bed telling myself over and over that it was supposed to be really short and wondering if I’d just killed myself until it passed, then got up and decided I’d never touch that shit again.

This was a much more enjoyable article to read than many these days. They even managed to skewer Adams.

I did grit my teeth at the absolutely sitcom-level evil authoritarian language from Nancy Mace though. Get better writers you fucking clown! This is the kind of line people write into obvious satire. Did you ask them next whether he was “a great president or the greatest president?”

The hearing took a turn when Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina demanded mayors answer inflammatory yes-or-no questions, including whether they “hated President Trump more than they loved their country”.

Salvia Divinorum

At one point in time I could probably have been convinced to try a lot of things. Fortunately for me (probably) Salvia Divinorum was the first thing I tried after marijuana, and it so thoroughly destroyed any notion I had that I could control my experience that it put me off trying just about everything else I was curious about.

Thank god the entire experience is single digit minutes.

I only learned what that meant from Mike Myers on SNL last week lol!