Same. I came on with the original Google play music. I can’t believe that was nearly 13 years ago… Oh how I miss Google play music.

Plus 1 for Ahoy! So happy he seems to be back making videos a bit more consistently.

IIRC they sold and shipped 2 generations of CPUs that were essentially defective and unrepairable.

“So that’s what things would be like if I invented the finglonger…”

Clearly I’m not if you read my original post. But it seems you don’t want to have an actual conversation on the matter.

First I want to say I appreciate your time and your responses. I appreciate having an actual conversation on the matter because I truly am interested in your thoughts and what you think the best approach may be.

Trust me, I don’t just want to change how we vote, I think that many changes need to be made to our government. My biggest question is how do you think we can make that happen? My opinion (just an opinion) is that the people have a much better chance with making changes through local elections and that the democratic party is more likely (at least at the moment) to put us in the right direction. Yeah, it’s not going to fast or easy.

I consider myself independent. I always tried to vote for the best candidate no matter the party. Then after 2016, I realized that overall the GOP was toxic for the country. I already didn’t like the Democratic party leadership but figured that while they suck, it’s much more dangerous for Trump/the GOP to be in charge again.

Again, I appreciate your time and if you can, please share what you think may be the best option forward. I know you mentioned voting 3rd party but what else do you think people should do?

So what would you rather instead? A combo of fascist and genocidal?

May I ask why? Is it for a single reason or multiple?

I agree that there’s likely no ‘perfect’ system of government. Mostly because power corrupts most. But clearly the two party system is extremely dangerous so I still want a change to another method. Yes, ranked choice voting isn’t perfect but not trying to change/improve is giving up.

I do want to ask, it seems like you are fine with another Trump term. Do you not think fascism growth would be greater under his presidency? Do you think he won’t support the Israel government or worse, provide even more to them?

As someone who voted 3rd party in 2016, I very much regret it. It was a wasted vote and helped Trump get in office. The very same thing can happen again. Don’t get me wrong, I hate that Biden is the candidate. I hated it in 2020 as well. The Democratic party is a joke when it comes to putting up candidates. Until we aren’t a two party system, we have to vote for the lesser of two evils with a plausible chance of winning. If not and Trump wins again, we will only move backwards again. It felt like we took two steps backwards and a half step forward.

How we can generate change is by starting at the local level. Ranked choice voting has already begun at many local level elections. We need to campaign for this and for candidates that can make that happen.

Not yet but the neighbors German shepherd did bite our late dog’s noise and cause a laceration when they were first getting introduced. I don’t blame the dog. They had just rescued it and still needed socialization (our dog was just fine and it was a controlled environment).

I also have been bitten by a German shepherd that was a family’s dog. That one actually needed stitches. But again, it was a rescue and had a terrible temperament. They had the dog for a while but it was terribly trained and they shouldn’t have had the dog as they couldn’t control it.

Our neighbor’s dog is so sweet and just needed some work. I’m not sure what happened to the other dog but I didn’t want to press chargers or anything. It’s just a dog that needed cared for by someone capable.

Despite having bad experiences with German shepherds, I would never say it’s a problem with the breed. That’s just prejudice and ignorant.

Hate in general is mostly irrational and sadly propaganda plays into the tribalistic nature of humans.

Statistically the breed is misidentified as well leading to many ‘pitbull’ attacks not being actual pitbulls. Again, I’m not saying they’re not dangerous or that just anyone should own one but they should be treated like any other dog of their ilk. Rotts, German Shepards, Cane Corsos, Dobermanns, all are capable of massive damage but there aren’t nearly as many of those in need of a good home and good guidance. The problem is there are SO MANY pitbulls. By adopting one, I’m helping save a life since they are killed in shelters so much earlier than other breeds. Just like I’m not having kids and if I change my mind one day, I’ll adopt. I can adopt a dog that is at-risk and turn around their life, why wouldn’t I?

Or the opposite. I have had 2 rescues that have been amazing. The second has been a ton of work but it’s well worth it because he is one of the most loving and affectionate dogs I have ever met. I also believe that not just anyone should own a bully breed (or many other breeds of dogs for that matter).

In my neighborhood, it’s 2 Golden’s that are always running free and wreaking havoc on other dogs and people. Meanwhile we have the ‘dangerous one’ because he is a pit. Our dog is not permitted outside the house without supervision and a lead if we’re outside the fence (still supervised in the fenced in area). The one time he got out I yelled ‘heel’ and he came right back. Meanwhile, the goldens chase us (and most other residents) into our own yard while the own stands still from his garage just yelling at them but the goldens don’t care. They just bark and snarl and encroach in our (and others) yard.

I argue it’s the opposite of selfish. Giving time, money, and resources to care and save an animal that was abandoned doesn’t exactly seem selfish.

I’m all for rescuing as many dogs as we can as a society (regardless of breed), but serious thought and planning needs to be in place as there are a lot of incapable people out there.

Sadly I I think you’re right. I too know quite a few people who lean left that get caught up in the whole ‘GMOs and vaccines are bad’ camp.

I absolutely love that haha.

Which are lies? I’d be happy to present sources. I mean, if the left’s “marketing” is wanting to help others, yeah, that’s pretty good marketing. I personally like helping others which is why I lean left I guess…

What have they convinced me of that’s not true? Please enlighten me. I do like debating and am open to having my mind changed (I did consider myself a Republican for the majority of my life after all).

I didn’t know the left did all this:

-Plotted to kidnap a governor.

-Committed an insurrection.

-Threw away a pandemic response plan because they thought it would hurt big cities more than rural areas.

-Let businesses take PPP loans when they didn’t need it and not hold business accountable for what they did with those funds.

-Block student loan forgiveness saying it’s too much money to spend (very hypocritical based on their PPP loans stance).

-Put policies in place to make voting harder.

-Reversed Roe v Wade to let the states decide. Then when a state votes in favor of abortion, they don’t want to honor the people’s decision.

-Trying to stop legalization of marijuana (even when it’s put to a state vote) despite it being overwhelmingly favored by both parties.

-Banning/preventing life saving medical care (example ectopic pregnancies).

-Blame gun violence on mental health but then vote against mental health programs…

-Ignore experts in fields of science and education because it goes against their agenda.

-Plead to let the people decide on a new supreme court judge at the end of a presidential term (i.e. let the next president appoint the judge), only to not do the same when they hold office.

-Have Nazis on their side…

-Are in favor of gerrymandering (an unfair political strategy)

Oh wait, all that wasn’t the left…

To say the left has gone crazy with the current state of affairs is blatantly ignorant. And to cast a wide net on anyone who opposes what you think is right is also extremely dangerous and akin to facism. I don’t think every Republican is out of touch or crazy. I think they have many valid concerns. What I disagree with is the majority of Republican politicians. There are actually a few Republican politicians I do like just like there a ton of Democrat politicians I don’t like. It’s the direction the Republican party is going in regards to policies that I disagree with.

And the right literally have stated they are in favor of smaller federal/national government and that states should have more power (hence a smaller government…)

Yeah, we did that and there was an insurrection… Do you think if they get voted in this time and then lose next round that they will leave peacefully?

You guys who? I used to vote Republican… I’m an independent voter who wants a political reform of ranked choice voting, removing the 2 party system, etc… I only vote Democrat now because the GOP shoved their foot so far up their ass showing their true colors.

The GOP went full orange cult. They’re now hell bent on taking rights away and decide to vote against anything positive for their constituents as long as it is under the name of opposing democrats. They used to be the party of small government. Now they want to control everything and remove only regulations that ‘stop profit.’ They’re not even close to being the same party they used to be.