WoodScientist

Meant to post that somewhere else?

We didn't domesticate corn. Corn domesticated us.

The only good insurance executive is a dead insurance executive.

If you do, post a link, I'll watch it!

No, you read it the right way the first time. The site thought I had uploaded the image of a child, and then it accused me of being a creepy pedo that's searching for images of kids. As though I had taken a picture of a random child in public then uploaded it hoping to find more. And it threatened to refer to me to law enforcement. Remember, the site works by uploading an image and then using an AI tool to find other images of the uploaded face that have been posted elsewhere on the net. Their AI thought I had uploaded the image of some kid and was trying to find more of their images posted to facebook or other sites. Effectively, their AI accused me of being a pedophile.

All for uploading a picture of my own face. I honestly don't know whether to be flattered or terrified. Frankly, I feel a little bit of both.

I love the old Melody Sheep version.

Quite possibly. Look, we're in a state of cold civil war. On the path we're on, we're likely to end up in a hot war that will destroy all our infrastructure, level our cities, and leave millions of us dead. We could do all of that, or we could simply admit this isn't working, go our own separate paths, and find a new way forward.

The US is honestly too big for its own good. There's a reason the oldest nations on Earth tend to be much smaller than the US. Nations as large as the US either break apart or collapse into dictatorship and authoritarianism. The only way to hold such a large nation together is with an iron fist. Frankly, I would rather have smaller countries and retain democracy than lose democracy in the name of retaining a large single nation.

As a reminder, at this point, she had no idea the beast would turn back into a human. She was fully prepared to ride the beast.

I'm at the point where I think we need to dissolve the United States entirely. The Constitution you learned about in school no longer exists. Congress is as ineffectual and cowed as the Senate during the Roman Empire. SCOTUS has completely abandoned the Constitution, but we all still pretend that its rulings are worth even reading, let alone following. The president is completely ineligible for office due to taking foreign bribes and leading a rebellion. SCOTUS believes sex discrimination isn't sex discrimination. And the presidency's powers have been expanded through emergency power after emergency power. And entire departments, which Congress only created because they were intended to operate independent of the president, now have been completely supplicated due to rulings by a corrupt Supreme Court.

We are caught in a cycle of ever-elevating abuse and violation of norms. Republicans are always the first one to break norms, but once the precedent is set, Democrats adopt it to. At this point, we're basically electing a national dictator every four years; the core principle of the Constitution - separation of powers, no longer exist. And it's a coin toss whether we'll even have elections in 2028.

I'm sorry, but what are we even doing here? We have two parties that are fighting every four years for control of the national dictatorship. This has made the stakes of every election overwhelming. And both sides are thoroughly convinced of the irredeemable wickedness of the other. Why are we still doing this? We have options.

Government is meant to serve the people. The people are not meant to serve the government. If a government no longer serves the needs of the people, then that government, Constitution, or entire nation can simply be dissolved.

It's time for a peaceful dissolution of the United States. Grant all 50 states independence, let them come back together into whatever new nation or nations they wish to form. Let them write a new Constitution or Constitutions based on the compromises of our own time, not those of 250 years ago. Yes, there would be negotiations that need to happen, but that's happened through countless other national breakups.

And if you think the Constitution precludes this, you haven't been paying attention. There is a very simple way to end the union forever. Someone just needs to run for president on that platform. SCOTUS has given the presidency near dictatorial control over everything in the executive branch. Someone could run for president on the following platform:

"I will be the last president of the United States. Elect me, and I will grant all 50 states full independence. I will fire every single federal employee. I will not collect any taxes. I'll surrender control of military forces to the states. I will not resist any attempts by states to withdraw from the Union. In fact, through these actions I will force them to do so. If Congress or the Supreme Court object, I will ignore them. I will have a clear political mandate to dissolve this failed union. And those voices that want to deny the American people their future will simply be ignored."

That's literally all it would take. Congress and SCOTUS can piss and moan all they want. They'll find themselves meeting in abandoned buildings with no electricity and no one guarding the doors. They can pass whatever silly resolutions or rulings they want; they'll be pissing into the wind. In the meanwhile power will be completely dissolved to the states, and they'll be working with each other to form new regional nations and write new Constitutions for them. Once the back of the existing federal government is broken in this way, there will be no putting it back together.

Our nation was built by human beings for the service of human beings. If we find that this nation is no longer serving the needs of the people, it can simply be peacefully dissolved. If a president were elected on platform of openly promising to do this? They would have such a political mandate that there would be no stopping them.

I do get told I look young for my age. But that's no excuse for the software. I get told I look 30. I don't get carded while buying alcohol. My husband, who is the same age as me, never gets dirty looks when we're out in public like he's with someone half his age. People may read me a little bit younger than I am, but no one is mistaking me for an 18 year old.

Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are men!

Why do you think that then?