What denomination, primarily, were you? Did you manage to get anyone out with you? (I was unable.)

Oh, hey. That whole mind expanding thing really isn’t a joke. I look back, sometimes, on who I used to be.

I have a pi 4 server that hangs up after a few days. Tried to track down what was causing it but didn’t go to extremes. Most expedient solution was to force a reboot.

Have a cron job that reboots the pi at 3:00 AM each day. Easy work around, lazy was better.

Heart of Darkness and all that? I feel like I’m pretty good at reading people, continue to get better at it. Most people, on an interpersonal level, are good. There are evil people, sociopathic or narcissistic, I usually notice them by their weird affect. Not all the sociopaths are necessarily evil, you just can’t trust them.

Average people don’t usually try to hurt people they know. They will be lazy in their thinking, they’ll hurt people they know through selfishness, average people can do bad things. However, everyone is the hero of their own story. For the most part, people believe they are good and doing good.

Anyhow, part of what makes this so painful is seeing good people get twisted by the propaganda. For instance, the subsurface racism, most of these people were ashamed of their racist views. The racism was exploited and used to short circuit around logic. I watched my grandfather go from a kind and gentle man to using the N-word and spewing Hannity talking points.

So, I blame average people, I think they were mostly good. They fell for an obvious con, chose to listen to the darker parts of their nature instead of using logic. Does that make them evil now? IDK, maybe. Propaganda is a hell of a drug. They were weak. They probably aren’t ever coming back.

Oh good grief, of course they fell for it. Not that I don’t blame them for it. However, they absolutely fell for a con. To say otherwise is immature or unrealistic black and white thinking.

I’m angry with them, will likely never trust or respect them again. They’re humans just like we are, they aren’t acting, they aren’t completely indecent, and so on.

Just because the fascist side dehumanizes its enemies doesn’t mean we should. It’s also not very effective when you’re trying to predict what they’ll do and how they’ll react. You have to be able to understand the minds of your antagonists to effectively counter them.

They’re not all stupid. Again, that’s a comforting lie we tell ourselves. I’ve personally known engineers, a Colonel, a cabinet maker, and C-suite execs that have all gone down the rabbit hole. They have willfully drank down the propaganda and are willfully ignorant but not all of these people are stupid.

Many of these aren’t stupid people. That’s a cop out we tell ourselves to feel superior. Willful ignorance is closer to the truth.

I’m not going to rehash the horror of watching family and friends go down the rabbit hole. It’s a big ball of grief that comes in waves.

As to your supposition that psychological weaknesses were weaponized: I completely agree. I think historians will focus on it as evidence is available and time goes by, it will be considered obvious.

Cults wish they had this kind of power and reach. I agree that it has cult like characteristics, but it tolerates divergent ideology as long the orange fucker is venerated. I can’t decide if it’s something new or is regular old fascism, I lack the historical background to know.

I mean, at a high level, I guess so. At human level where these are real people with relationships and thoughts and feelings, it is mind blowing.

Some of them now approve of everything they stood against. Whatever the propaganda that got them there, it’s wild. These are people that I respected and thought had wisdom and they have fallen for such a shallow con.

Red bull, in moderation, is acceptable. In fact, when you expect exceptional effort from your developer, such as ‘crunch time’, Red Bull supplementation is encouraged.

A productive developer is a happy developer!

I remember my father being so angry about Clinton that the veins in his neck and face were bulging. He thought Clinton should be hanged, at the time, for adultery and betraying the country.

Now this fat orange fuck is worshiped. I will never understand how they fell for this. The moral compromise needed to support a clown show.

Developer’s needs are pretty simple, however. Keep clean straw for bedding, fresh coffee, and unimpeded access to an Ethernet jack. Your developer can have gummy worms or beer in small quantities, as a treat. Of course, the bulk of their diet should be ramen/developer chow. A simple correction, such as deleting system32 or not properly shutting down Linux, is usually all that is needed. They’ll provide you with years of faithful service.

Adopt a developer today!

You may already know this, but is commonly taught by evangelical fundy Protestants that Catholicism isn’t Christianity. It is considered a polytheistic cult due to the praying to and veneration of saints. By these group’s definition: Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Christians.

Me? I think they all suck, but, I was raised by the fundies.

I have heard about land being volunteered for use in Texas as a political stunt, have not seen anything about land being purchased for that purpose.

Excellent response.

I’m trying to limit myself to watching for actual threats to my family. Basically a couple of things. Watching for the same stuff that tipped us off on COVID and watching for camps actually being setup on US soil.

Trying to ignore all the ragebait and most of the news. I think I see manipulation similar to what I saw on the first trump election now targeted left. So, pants on head crazy.

Heads down and try to only pay attention to the important stuff.

Yeah, dogs have much stronger sense of self, however. They feel insult, shame, sadness, guilt, and unfairness. I think cats view the laughter as more of aggression/dominance thing than the emotions humans or dogs would map to.

I have a cat that can call birds. We had a gap under the garage door, and she called sparrows in under the door before I adjusted the hang. She murder-a-lized them all over the house.

Had another, even more sadistic, cat that was very aggressive towards other people. I always had to warn guests not to believe her and not to pet her or they would get cut. She would call people to her and let a little petting happen before ripping a finger or arm. Same cat enjoyed scaring children, one time she jumped through the air and barked in a child’s face just to watch the fun. She had to be put down, I was the only person that was safe around her.

They use these instincts on us to get what they want. They often want petting, treats, or attention so we don’t notice.

This applies to cats of average or above intelligence. There are a few dumb cats that have about as much awareness as a tater.

I’ve never had a shelter or bred cat. Instead, they just appear from the outside, get found in a parking lot, or sometimes materialize and no one knows where they came from. They get cleaned up and shots, chip, and fixed.

Some cats will get their prey/play drive mixed up and snap on you unexpectedly. Almost like they’re startled but it’s internal, they will often be ‘apologetic’ or confused afterwards. Some cats are worse about this than others and you shouldn’t wrestle or play rough with this kind using your hands, toys only.

And, yes. Cats are absolutely aware of the size and power differential. They’re always watching it at some level. Trust must be earned and often slowly built. Had one cat knock down a stack of pans and run behind me for protection. Some cats dislike being laughed at and it can cause aggression or cause retreat.

A cat’s love is transactional to a high degree, they’re lazy psychos that can learn friendship through trust. They love the comfort of you as much as they actually love you. They mimic affection and scheme a lot more than most people would like to think.

All cats are bad, it’s what makes them so great to have in your life.

If you’re ever up Huntsville way, check out Beaver Dam Swamp. It’s just off I-565, boardwalk out over a tupelo swamp. Absolutely beautiful, eerie.

Spent a lot of time squirrel hunting in the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge swamps. Found a spot where I could watch the whooping cranes.