That’s a hell of a lot of words that aren’t either “of course we should vote in every election for the best possible candidate” or “no, we should withhold our votes in the general if the Dems don’t nominate someone sufficiently progressive.”

If you mean the latter, say it. If you don’t, then say that, too.

So, you are in favor of “my guy or the Nazi” voting? I didn’t hear a “no”, there.

It isn’t “loser talk” to recognize the rules that elections run by, or to push back against the “both sides” rhetoric that lets the Overton window drift ever rightward.

Either you show up and vote in every election for the least bad candidate, be they good or great or only “not as bad”, or you are doing more harm than good.

What does that fight look like, in your mind? Standing and shouting for Bernie and then sitting out the general when Clinton wins? Or arguing for Bernie in the primary since he’s the best choice and then arguing just as hard for Clinton in the general since she’s the best choice then?

Primary-only voting doesn’t force anyone to do anything but ignore us harder in the primary.

And if that isn’t what you mean by your objection to framing all elections as choices for “least bad”, then why are you echoing the rhetoric of those who do?

I don’t know how you square the circle of asserting that ‘both sided are bad’ is what got us here and still echoing “less bad” to buttress their thesis

Waiting for the left to be “good” instead of “less bad” is what makes “both sides are bad” such an effective demobilization tactic.

Picture the clearest example in human history, where one side was absolute villains and the other a superman-esque obvious good guy.

Then explain to me how the good guy is not the “least bad” choice.

Because too many of us who had selfish political actions, and for decades kept saying “both sides are bad” while the side nearest facism kept acting in bad faith.

Democratic elections have always in the end been about picking the least-bad option. And, like it or not, elections and their consequences shape the rest of the world.

If you think that’s bad, look at what “1” means.

(And, honestly, at least windows’ “last big calendar change” and excel’s “start of the century when we wrote it” are reasonable points. The unix “let’s make it recent so we can fit an absurdly small unit as an integer!” Epoch is just… Weird.)

Getting millions of Americans to go out and essentially shout “F U Donald” is a little bit more than a hang. And is potentially much more effective than a riot or occupy wall street.

America is still a democracy, in that all the roads to power require you to get folk to show up and vote for you.

It was done as a matter of course by essentially every president before Trump. I think the tradition stretches back to Truman, after FDR died in office.

Biden, Obama, W, Clinton, and HW all did so. Not sure about Regan, whose Alzheimer’s was hidden at the end.

It’s hard to say without knowing what country you’re in now. PRC is an undemocratic system to be embraced, escaped, or endured, but so are PRK, Iran, and a bunch others

OTOH, Canada or the USA were designed on the assumption that you’d agitate for the form of government. If you’re in either one, especially if you’re a citizen, you should definitely argue for the government you want.

The rest of the world is an interesting mix of “started undemocratic, embraced democracy” to “started democratic, embraced autocracy.”

Update: this is, in fact, hilarious.

If it keeps up my smartwatch may either cure my tinitus or else inflict it upon all those nearby.

That’s… A bold idea which may or may not be hilarious.

If I slam the button at the end do two more random notifications go out?

I would guess that it’s actually a jargonification of extant words.

Merriam Webster includes a neat etymology section on the definitions I linked, that traces both words to the Renaissance (ish). The entry for “maze” does note an alternate definition as a neurological test with at least one dead end, but (1) that doesn’t match the claim OP’s article headline makes and (2) scientific jargon is not common English.

(If jargon WERE common English, we’d have an entirely different argument about tomatoes being fruits or vegetables.)

It’s not for cooking, it’s for tool testing.

If you want to test how well someone’s fancy cleaning detergent works on stains, or if their claim that a new knife shape makes spreading easier, you want a very standard peanut butter.

IBM has never stopped selling mainframes. One of the big reasons why finance transactions are still COBOL is IBM consultants insisting that a centralized mainframe is better than a private cloud.

Ceremony can be a PITA,.no argument here.

But I would be shocked if Nintendo made a digital “eject” erase anything on the local console.

Fort Liberty had its name changed back to Fort Bragg by racists.

Please don’t spread racist propaganda or take their

Assume that, for the first time in his life, Donald meant what he said. Pretend that he won’t change his mind or panic, and assume that the same GOP which keeps missing Speaker of the House election layups won’t break and let the Democrats take the tariff power away

The midterm congressional elections are always a swing to the other party. The Democrats are more likely to take at least one chamber of Congress than Trump is to say something dumb. But let’s assume that for some reason they only take one, and you get gridlock enough to preserve the tarrifs until the next POTUS takes office in January 2029.

A factory would need to break even by that time to be worth a quick investment. And not just break even, but leave you with more wealth than if you just bought a bunch of crypto and stayed home until this all passes. And if you signed an deal today, your break even points might be as soon as only 45 months away.

You can’t even get a car loan with a team that short.

This isn’t true. Go look up the definition for either word, and it doesn’t comport with the usage rules claimed.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/labyrinth

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maze

If you do want to draw a sharp distinction in modern usage, you could posit that a labyrinth is a type of maze that was made intentionally and can be walked through.

As I understand it, switch 1 digital games are console-bound, but you can migrate your whole console to a new device (such as if your switch breaks.). This was terrible and unfriendly, and why almost all of my family’s switch games are physical.

I doubt “share once and let everyone play but the owner” was an intentional promise from Nintendo, but I’d have no trouble believing a tale about their DRM checks leaving open a hole like that.