The only winning move is not to play.

First I removed the Instagram app from my phone, because it was full of dark patterns meant to keep users scrolling.

Endless reposted stories from people you follow, endless suggested posts when you ran out of posts from people you actually know, and then the slop bucket known as reels. I found myself sucked in too often.

I used the web app version on my phone for a bit, which has a lot fewer dark patterns, but eventually I ditched that too because I found myself checking it out of habit.

Now I still have a login on my desktop browser, because for whatever reason some businesses insist on only sharing hours/menus etc via an Instagram post. But I'm close to pulling the plug on Instagram altogether.

Is there an xcancel equivalent for Instagram that lets me bypass the login wall in a pinch?

I also added a ublock origin filter list for tuning out social media distractions. Now my YouTube and Reddits are essentially blank feeds - no suggested posts, stories or recommendations.

https://github.com/BevizLaszlo/UBlock-Filters-for-Social-Med...

Why would the amount of babies at a football game have an influence at your daughter's college preferences? Maybe I'm missing something.

If I had a college age kid, I definitely would encourage them to avoid some of the southern schools caught up in the MAGA cultural revolution. There's been a big movement to crush free speech and academic freedom, especially in the Texas university system.

A big recent example is Texas A&M booting any professor who doesn't fall into the party line - most recently punishing a professor for teaching Plato in an intro philosophy course. [0]

[0] https://lithub.com/texas-am-is-banning-plato-citing-his-gend...

She likes babies. I've raised my kids around WASP liberals because I want to socialize my kids to be orderly, but there's a definite baby shortage in that circle. Also, a lot more guilt and less people having fun than at a southern state school football game. It’s a lot closer to a big Indian wedding (which she also likes for some reason) than anything you find among the Annapolis yacht club circle.

I don’t have a view on where she goes to college—we just had a good season and I wanted to take her to a game. If I had a choice, maybe I’d want her to go to Oxford or Cambridge.

> If I had a college age kid, I definitely would encourage them to avoid some of the southern schools caught up in the MAGA cultural revolution.

Northern schools are not doing much better. Not even the richest schools can do much to fend off a belligerent DOE and the rubber stamp of SCOTUS.

Guarantee there are dozens if not more in the admin insider trading like they have on so many announcements. Market manipulation right out in the open.

The slimiest swampiest criminals, they need to be put on trial.

> Switch to stores with stronger privacy policies: Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Food Bazaar have not announced biometric scanning.

Local member owned food co-ops would be a good alternative if there's one near you.

They don't have to be fancy and expensive. My local co-op strives to offer affordable options on most staples and bulk foods, and frequently undercuts the chains (including Wegmans) on produce, especially local produce when they can source it.

Do they have 20 types of chips and 300 cereals? No, but I can shop in a 20-30 minutes instead of the hour minimum Wegmans demands.

It recently dawned on me the cognitive simplicity of selecting a smaller store like the co-op. At our local one, the employees are really nice and selections really easy. I have not yet moved over, but I can see a lot of advantages.

My theory is the Trump Mafia doesn't care if people think they are idiots.

This admin is so transparently corrupt, and they're making out like bandits.

Trump and his family have made billions of dollars on the crypto rug pull. Everyone knew it was a shitcoin from the start.

Trump has pardoned violent criminals and felony fraudsters for business deals and "donations".

His family's net worth has estimated to have risen billions this year alone.

Elon Musk essentially bought his way into the control of the government and tried to buy off votes.

Kristi Noem funneled at least one sole source contract worth $220 million dollars to a firm closely tied to her and her previous political campaigns.

Ron DeSantis spent $250 million dollars of no-bid contracts for essentially a tent interment camp, many of questionable value and to politically tied companies

They don't care if you don't like them and I don't think they care if they accomplish what they ran on. They have done a bang up job enriching themselves and their donor class, however.

It should worry us that they're not worried about what happens when they're no longer in power and the naked corruption gets looked at. They're not worried because their plan is to stay in power...

Losing voter confidence in droves? Not a problem if you're confident about establishing the next 1000 year reich.

bingo. said something similar before - you don't go on white house renovations if you plan on leaving. & these folks are not the type to plan on leaving.

in 2021 they already showed their colors. now i'm sure they've mastered the game of staying.

A lot of flippers aren't dealing with scary stuff like foundations or structure, that's risky and expensive. It's cheap to throw up some new drywall and vinyl floors to make it look renovated though.

What did the ACA require that shouldn't be part of healthcare in one the wealthiest countries in the world?

Annual check ups? Cancer screenings? Maternity care? Basic mental health? Forcing the insurance companies to accept patients with preexisting conditions?

These services should be available to everyone.

If a developed country cannot provide these things to its citizens it's a failing state in my book.

It would be significantly cheaper for my wife and I to have a catastrophic-coverage-only plan, but those are now illegal. Between premiums and deductibles, I think we will have to spend north of $30,000 next year before we break even and insurance actually benefits us in any way whatsoever.

You can get telehealth appointments for many things for pretty cheap via companies like GoodRx, and screenings through dedicated groups as well. My last telehealth visit (and likely my last ever) through my PCP's network charged me+my insurance $300 for a 5 minute phone call to renew a prescription I've been on for years.

ACA just solidified the health system as a quasi-private government organization with its own tax system. We could do so much better, but we're hamstrung by a feckless congress.

"ACA required stuff" is a fox news talking point.

I disagree with your premise that agricultural and extraction workers have some higher intrinsic value compared to urban dwellers, but even if you accept that premise, it is immediately undermined by California.

California is an both a service economy and agricultural powerhouse, the number one producer of agricultural value in the US by far. Other states with heavily urbanized populations like like Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin all produce a ton of agricultural value.

Are you saying that California deserves more representation for having a lot of farms then?

Not to mention as agriculture and resource extraction industrialized and has automated, its required a smaller percentage of the labor force than ever before.

So why should the industrial base of a state have anything to do with how well citizens are represented?

Not true for Electrify America and many other chargers.

Plug and charge is supported on many vehicles, and you can skip the app entirely and just pay by card.

It does not fucking matter. Even if there are drugs on the boat.

You can't kill people who present no immediate threat to anyone without due process. It's a human rights travesty.

What stops them from declaring you or me from being drug smugglers and drone striking us? You won't be able to dispute the accusation after, that's for sure.