The trick is to pack up a big box full of stuff and give it to them all at once so they don’t have time to look through it and refuse it.

They absolutely will refuse things they know they’ll have a hard time selling, and trust me they have unique insight into what people want and don’t love the idea of warehousing unsalable merchandise. Many Goodwill location’s FAQs acknowledge that they refuse to take certain things. Salvo has a whole page dedicated to why they refuse certain things.

This is really clever if you’re okay with convincing yourself that you know exactly and completely what other people believe… Otherwise it’s a reductionist hot take filled with logical fallacy.

I wiped my ass with a wadded up ball of 25 toilet paper squares for years because no one wanted to tell me about more efficient and effective ways to do it. Bathroom knowledge is like your paycheck. They say you shouldn’t talk about it with your peers, but it needs to be talked about.

These days I can clean my whole ass, even on the most explosive days, with less than 10 squares, and I’m saving so much money.

There’s also the issue that after the moon landing we didn’t really improve that much and much of the knowledge faded

You’re entitled to your opinion, but I disagree with it.

Refusing to acknowledge the nuance of a situation demonstrates a binary (dualistic) cognitive development level.

To muddle our analysis by insisting that fascism is already here, or that the Democratic party is fascist, or that liberals are fascists or the midwives of fascism, or that Democratic party voters are voting for fascism, is to disarm ourselves against the fascist threat. It is defeatism to shrug our shoulders saying that both parties are fascist, and a disservice to the many antifascist militants in our own country who have been killed, injured, and locked away in prison while struggling against this extremely serious threat. To assume that January 6th was a hyped-up myth, or to belittle its gravity, is a dereliction of our most solemn duty as Communists and workers in the belly of the beast.

https://www.cpusa.org/article/the-united-states-is-not-a-fascist-country/

Why don’t you give us your opinion on why both Jill and Joe surround themselves with fascists?

When things get bad enough, people will revolt to build a better system.

An optimist, I see!

I think he still is!

Oh wait, I just realized that you probably mean the “Environmental Protection Agency.”

Here I was thinking you meant the “Eager for Punani Association.”

Sorry for my delay in response. I try to limit the amount of time I spend on social media as it can be harmful to my mental health.

As for good game theory resources, it’s going to somewhat depend on your existing math literacy. I’m going to paste a list (below) that I’d found on reddit when I was first exploring game theory about 10 years ago. I haven’t read all of the suggestions.

The following are three foundational works in the development of game theory:

• Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, Oskar Morgenstern and John Von Neumann (THE seminal text)

• A Theory of Justice, John Rawls (an early political application of game theory)

• Convention, David Lewis (a philosophy-heavy investigation of rationality and sociality)

These are four widely-respected contemporary surveys of the subject, listed in descending order of complexity:

• Game Theory and the Social Contract, Ken Binmore (anything by Ken Binmore is worthwhile).

• Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction, Colin Camerer (perhaps the definitive work on behavior economics)

• Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely (introductory)

• Game Theory: A Nontechnical Introduction, Morton Davis (introductory)

I also recommend checking out MIT’s OpenCourseWare game theory polisci course. I found it quite interesting.

Will do. This honestly means the world because I don’t have a lot of players in my court.

I do mean it. I’m not always fast to reply, but I’m around if you ever want to have a chat about anything! The grad student path seems like a worthwhile pursuit and I wish you all the best with it! As for the social aspect, I can relate, certainly. I was pretty unsure that things would work out when I set out to try alternative living systems in my early 20s. Being around like-minded people ended up being extremely valuable for my social skills, in the end.

Maybe when you’re done with your coursework you can investigate the opportunities available. I lived for a while in a co-op house in upstate New York that would have been perfect for a young professional. Private rooms with common spaces and a nightly shared meal. Communal chores to be done, but income was not shared. Members had to have their own incomes.

I didn’t ask for your answer, I asked for your opinion. I already knew that you didn’t have the answer. Nether do I.

I was young, idealistic, autistic, and naive myself, once, long ago. Still autistic, but less young, idealistic, and naive these days. I tripped over my ideals and ethics for a long time before figuring out how to survive in this capitalist hellscape. I’m still not very good at it, and my path needn’t be yours. I won’t shove it down your throat.

I wasn’t sharing that song with the intent to be adversarial. I shared it because Bad Religion has been a very helpful band for me throughout my young-adulthood, and their lyrics continue to help me to this day. No offense intended. My opinion of what this song meant, for example, when I was young, was vastly different to the meaning I take from it now.

I’m very familiar with anarchist theory and the praxis thereof. I read all of the links you provided and I don’t wholly disagree with the bulk of it. Please don’t get me wrong.

BUT. Refusing to vote against fascists because of ideological distaste is indeed moral superiority, whether you want to admit that or not. People can die.

I have no love for Democrats, and I don’t in any way identify as one. I do, however, have a great love for game theory, and game theory tells me that there’s only one correct decision to make where voting in the USA in 2024 is concerned. I will continue to take direct action to further my own personal beliefs and ideologies, but I won’t let that stand in the way of doing things that I find morally distasteful (such as voting for a Democrat) to keep fascists out of power.

I hope this doesn’t come across as condescending. I don’t mean it that way but people often tell me I’m being condescending. I wish you all the best in life. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you in any way, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you want a conversational partner or a sympathetic ear. I’m always open to discussing the world with intelligent people.

If you’re interested in communal living or alternative lifestyles (at it pertains to anarchist communities), I’m happy to help there, as well. I think I still have some friends that know folx at Emma Goldman Finishing School in Seattle. Admittedly, I don’t know if they’re looking for any new members right now, but I’d be happy to put a word in for you.

When fascists take power it’s not unheard of for them to line up commies and anarchists against a wall and shoot them. I’m all for ideological utopianism, I’ve lived on intentional communities in the country and anarchist collectives in the city, but preserving your moral superiority is little comfort when you and your family are staring down the barrel of a fascist’s gun.

The Answer.

Voting in the general election does nothing to brake the train. Not near zero, zero.

I fear that you’re mistaking your own pessimism for absolute truth, but I’m willing to be convinced otherwise.

Voting is orthogonal to what needs to be done.

What, in your view, needs to be done?

The answer:

Everyone would have heat pumps.

The main difference is who owns the means of production. In communism, the government does. In socialism, the people do.

What would we call a hybrid system in which the government is made up of the people and owns the means of production? Direct Democratic Communism?

Edit to add:

A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision, neither by the component states nor the federal political body without constitutional amendment.

Seems relevant considering “The Federation”.

Reposting from an earlier comment I made:

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Best we have right now, far as I can find:

My favorite tinfoil hat theory is that one of the secret service members had a razor palmed, which they then used to slice his ear when they took him to ground. I’m not saying I believe that, of course, but it seems the most plausible to me.

Edit to add: Armchair analysis. Maybe it sorta looks like some of the helix (both tubercle and crus sides) flesh is missing from a graze, here?

You’re not wrong at all. I also don’t think your analysis is incompatible with what I said above, either. Unless, that is, that you’re saying that no one should have a right to complain unless they have it worse than everyone else.

American hegemony as practiced by US liberal politicians, in service of capital, is one of the primary drivers of the issue you’re describing.

I agree with you. I am not the most courageous person; Far from it, in fact. In this case my fear is winning. I have more to lose now than I did 20 years ago, and more people who depend on me. Thank you for your understanding.

For now I do what I can, and I hope I can count on others to help spread the word, maybe make a scene, agitate a bit. A couple of people have posted that image to sticker mule’s twitter account, some of which have been removed or hidden by “the algorithm”, supposedly. But it would be nice to see more people spreading the photos, more people asking questions. Their instagram, their facebook, wherever. Put it in the face of these neo-fascists and let them publicly defend the CEO then. But I bet they won’t. They seem even more cowardly at heart than I am.

As Voltaire said: “The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor.”

The idea broadly underpins modern capitalism, and it sums up why liberal politicians (whether left or right wing) do nearly everything they do. Democratic liberals want to keep the lower classes at least somewhat happy by throwing them scraps from time to time, while Republican liberals will only ever do just enough to keep the lower classes pacified.

I agree. And I’d like to explain myself…

Personally, I err on the side of always trying to protect myself and my family from fascists (especially monied ones with lawyers and connections). This is even more vital when shining a light on things they probably don’t want people to see. That’s why, in this case, I’m being careful.

His name is out there and anyone can find it. I’m happy to explain how to find it, but in this case I’m just playing it safe by not repeating it myself… for whatever good it’ll do me.