But thank God they have tanks and grenade launchers. We can all take solace in that.

So the citizens still have to physically vote even though there’s only 1 option?

Yep! Technically tho, they can cross out the name of the candidate to vote “no”.

See that little table to the right? They have to use the red pen sitting on top of it. But don’t worry, it’s “anonymous”!

Apparently in more recent elections, “no” votes just go in a separate bin?

It also appears to double as a census, since voting is mandatory. That same Wikipedia article says elections are watched by the inminban to keep an eye out for no-shows.

To be completely fair, there is apparently one position in local elections that can actually have two candidates. It’s mostly a figurehead that’s subordinate to the unelected mayor, but hey! Two names on the ballot!

Can’t find anything about how ballots are counted, though that doesn’t exactly surprise me.

To be clear, Kim Jong-un was not up for “election” in 2019. According to Wikipedia, it was actually the first time someone in his seat didn’t even bother with the sham.

Not like it’s a huge change, going from being the only name on the ballot to not even letting people vote.

Holy shit, I am totally guilty of this.

For those who haven’t yet read the article, the idea is that people interpret “80% of people prefer Pepsi Max to Coke” as “Pepsi Max is 80% yummier than Coke”, when in reality most of that 80% only slightly prefers Pepsi.

Basically a strong difference in proportion of people who prefer one option to another does not necessarily imply a strong difference in the average opinion between the two.

He also decided to kill thousands of low-level criminals instead of like ten rich people.

Imagine one day a mega-billionaire has a fatal heart attack. Found in his possession is the name of another mega-billionaire, scrawled onto whatever was near them in their own blood.

The next day, that billionaire drops dead. Another heart attack, another name found near the body. Rinse and repeat.

Eventually, one gets smart. Publicly pledges to give away their entire fortune and take an oath of poverty the day their name is found. The reaper skips him, and the message is sent: if you’re ultra wealthy and want to live, stop being ultra wealthy.

Sure, it may not be foolproof: there’s probably a lot of super rich people whose identities are more or less private. Maybe one of them can pull a fast one & hide their wealth rather than give it away. But still, it’d probably be more effective than what Light did with less killing to boot.

If I make it to 50 I’m calling it a win.

Jesus Christ, yes, I am a comfort hunter. You think I get up at the ass crack of dawn every day for fun? You think I want to push buttons on a computer all day because I’m just weirdly into it?

No! I do this shit because I have to!

Fucking hell. I’ve already accepted that I have to make your company money if I want to live in a house. For the love of all that is good in this world, PLEASE do not make me pretend to like it. I’m already weirded out that you’re so into it.

“Port” and “left” both have four letters. “Starboard” is the other one.

Learned that trick a few years ago and have not forgotten since.

The two are not in equal positions when it comes to keeping “cool heads”. Pretty hard to keep cool when you’ve grown up being shot at and starved and driven from your home. It’s easy to sit in a safe place and condemn someone else’s reaction to having their home conquered and their people slaughtered, but it’s another thing entirely to actually go through it.

Of course, targeting civilians and committing war crimes is bad. No contest. But people are going to fight like cornered animals when you try to genocide them. Let’s not pretend like Hamas came out of nowhere.

People are a product of their environment, and people who grow up while being exterminated become radical and violent. The way to stop that from happening is not to keep dropping bombs and blocking humanitarian aid and sniping children.

Yeah, see? I know none of these words anymore. Eigenvector! Good for you tho.

Linear algebra. To be fair, I’m sure I learned a ton at the time. It’s just super perishable & I haven’t touched it in almost 10 years.

He also loves money and has no principles. People doing something because they have values is just not something he understands.

Dammit, I have already bought two knives you’ve featured in these. This might be #3.

A-fucking-men! Things can change fast, be ready to throw down!

Fun facts!

85% of people arrested with fentanyl at the border as U.S. citizens.

The vast majority of people arrested here for trafficking children are U.S. citizens (and children are over 3x more likely to be trafficked by an acquaintance or relative than they are a random kidnapper).

“Illegal aliens” commit less crime than natural born U.S. citizens.

Violent immigrants, perverted trans people, and incompetent DEI hires are all moral panics. You hear so much about them because the Republican party has nothing to offer that will make your life safer or easier.

I keep getting recruiters sending me in-office jobs on the other side of the country and not even telling me the salary range. You’re asking me to break my lease, uproot my family, and leave behind all my local friends. If your salary is low enough that you don’t want to advertise it up front, why would I ever even consider doing all that?

The media is gonna spin things no matter what. Dems should not let that stop them.

I like the idea! I feel like there are a ton of policies that have been really popular for a long time (legal weed, single payer healthcare, abortion protections) that elected officials have failed to sufficiently act on. I’m also pissed about politicians getting elected and suddenly changing their politics (looking at you, Fetterman). Don’t get me started on the electoral college or gerrymandering.

Folks in this thread seem to complain that the average voters is too disengaged / ignorant for this to work, but I don’t see how representative democracy is any better with that. I cannot imagine any form of democracy that can do better than garbage in, garbage out.

With all the junior devs he surrounds himself with, I’d expect him to be sick of XSS by now.

Not in an emotional way, but like digesting news from around the world and seeing logically we are fucked so may as well just quit?

I would challenge that belief.

Things are bad, sure. Climate is gonna change, people are gonna fight and die over the dumbest shit, and billionaires are going to loot any public good they can get their hands on.

But good people are still fighting. It’s a lot less top-down and much less visible, but it’s happening. Lives can still be saved, the damage can still be mitigated, and the bad guys can still be meaningfully opposed. Things can change quickly!

We have to keep in mind that the news is never gonna be good. Even when it isn’t a glorified right-wing propaganda machine, it’s a business that thrives on attention. And things that make you sad or scared or angry are always gonna grab your attention more than anything else.

We’re not getting hit by a giant meteor. We’re not all irrecoverably fucked. It’s better to prepare for an uncertain better future than give up preemptively!