ReallyActuallyFrankenstein

Don't forget to bathe in raw sewage.

I think a general strike would be effective, but dangerous when people are kept so close to poverty.

Remember the pandemic, we "all" stopped going into work? Except the grocery store workers, and the food processor workers, and those that distribute the food, and water treatment plant staff, and the power plant, and hospital staff, and taxis, and drug store workers, and so on and on. Do those people stop working? How many people can't obtain the things they need beyond their next paycheck? What if in addition, the store shelves are empty?

I agree, it's the most feasible way to fight back, so don't get me wrong. But just like union dues and preparation enable a local strike, accounting for food, water, amenities...a general strike would need to do that or else we would be fighting a war of attrition not just against billionaires with multi-year bunkers but also against ourselves.

Well, Jan. 6th was that too. Every boundary push is a practice run to push further.

The things that happened earlier - arresting US citizens before grudgingly releasing them, deporting them and legal residents - was a trial run for today. Today - planning denaturalization based only on Trump's mood at the time - is a trial run for tomorrow. And we can guess what that is.

At least there are no official death camps in this bill.

Sorry to be a downer, but ICE's funding is now high enough that one of the few plausible explanations for it is that they plan to create concentration camps of immigrants (and, hey, well we have all this money and space, maybe just all other undesirables too...?)

Yes, I opt out. The point of the scan is to (1) build a thorough database (although DOGE probably already did that, we just haven't found out yet), and (2) to accustom you to your identity not belonging to you.

The second point is the real point of opting out - as soon as nearly nobody opts out, and they've made headway on a database, it will no longer be optional. Opting out in that sense is the only vote you're going to get to cast against it.

Thanks, this was a fun read.

I do think the GBA and DS Castlevanias (since I've been replaying them lately) have distinct/unique gameplay mechanics - the most impactful of which involve collecting souls/etc from enemies to junction in new abilities - but until I replayed them I would have said the same thing. I started my replays of them by picking them at random because I couldn't remember anything except "that was pretty good!"

I deduce that the one nerbal has now become a priceless commodity since the last person using currency now has cornered the nerbal market.

There's precious little detail about what's going on here, but I assume Curve's NFC payment system hasn't enabled Device or Strong verification like Google Wallet.

I'm honestly ok with that "lower security" as long as there are appropriate safeguards to only paying when the phone is unlocked (which it should never be outside of my control). But that itself seems to assume Curve won't enable those things in the future, which is uncertain.

I'm in the same boat. The only reason I'm considering getting a Switch 2 now is because the first gen consoles always end up the easiest to hack.

They'll ride in, but it won't be to save us. It'll be only exactly to the extent they can buy up the bankrupt economy. It's the post-Soviet Russian collapse wealth privatisation scenario.

That's what the Constitution says, and Trump now has nothing that can legally stop him from doing it.

Which means the Constitution is dead letter.

It's going to be awhile before folks recognize just how damaging this is, if it plays out as I expect.

Trump's entire life policy is to ignore norms, contracts, laws, and opposition until he's stopped. It's still dumbfounding he's gotten this far, because he's not some strange unknown entity - he's a typical sociopath, pushing boundaries as far as they'll go in his favor until he's actually prevented from doing so.

His "litigate to delay" strategy is right in line with this. And now the norm is that his administration doesn't just get to act unlawfully until a court enjoins him from it (if even that, and if even he follows the order). It's now that his administration gets to act unlawfully to any individual who hasn't, on their own, challenged it and won in court. And given how fast he is normalizing fascism, even if a substantial number challenge him, in a year when the cases are "won," it'll be too late, the moment will be lost.

If there was any doubt as to the health of the rule of law, this is basically the end of the line.