Have not hitchhiked, but have picked up a few hitchhikers. If you spend enough time in the mountains you’ll eventually bump into people who need a lift to a trailhead or back to town. One young guy was juggling part-time gigs at multiple lodges and guide services, and hadn’t saved enough for a car yet. Another couple was touring from eastern Europe and decided to try traveling around the US without a car. They were all nice people.

This is why you shut the fuck up.

If the Dems gain full control of the House and Senate, and if they have the collective will to start a mass impeachment campaign and weather the political fallout, then yes, they could remove a lot of Trump appointees. But given the state of American politics, I am not optimistic about either of those things happening.

The executive branch also appoints people to hundreds of positions (with approval of the Senate). Federal judges in particular have lifetime terms per the Constitution. This is absolutely a generational mess.

Nothing good can come of this.

And did she apply in the first place? Or is it some marketing scam, like she just “won” a chance to sit through a sales pitch for a timeshare condo.

Per the Constitution, the executive branch of the federal government has no fucking business being involved in elections. We can only hope our state elections offices hold to that.

Article I, Section 4, Clause 1:

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

By its terms, Article I, Section 4, Clause 1, referred to as the Elections Clause, contemplates that state legislatures will establish the times, places, and manner of holding elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate, subject to Congress making or altering such state regulations (except as to the place of choosing Senators).1 The Supreme Court has interpreted the Elections Clause expansively, enabling states “to provide a complete code for congressional elections, not only as to times and places, but in relation to notices, registration, supervision of voting, protection of voters, prevention of fraud and corrupt practices, counting of votes, duties of inspectors and canvassers, and making and publication of election returns.”

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S4-C1-2/ALDE_00013577/

Future generations will never experience making this stuff with too little water to create a mixer that hides the taste of cheap booze.

Alberta is Canada’s Texas. It has a substantial population of populist conservatives that look and sound a lot like the US Republican base.

In recent weeks some Alberta separatists reportedly met with the Trump administration. Presumably, Trump and his followers are considering supporting their ambitions to split off from Canada.

The Freedom Convoy started as a group of truckers who demonstrated against COVID restrictions. Their actions quickly grew into a larger conservative anti-vaccine and anti-government protest.

Is creepy people entering women’s bathrooms such a common problem that we need the government to enforce bathroom use? No. This is merely moral panic being used to push conservative ideology, not an effort to address a real problem.

The party of “small government” and “freedom” telling you where you can and cannot pee.

If you saw a federal agent commit a crime, no you didn’t.

– Kash Patel

It’s basically Word lite: very similar interface, with a stripped-down feature set that covers most basic needs. You should have no problem diving right in and writing CVs and cover letters.

I’m trying to verify this myself and coming up empty-handed. The screenshot says the photo was posted in r/fivethirtyeight 5 days ago, but I don’t see it there. I tried multiple reverse image search tools and haven’t found this exact picture posted anywhere prior to today. This feels like bullshit agitprop.

There are plenty of factual reasons to hate ICE. Let’s not fall for stuff like this.

If you have a Google account, Google Sheets Docs is free and probably does everything you need.

MS Office is also really easy to pirate.

How long until Fanone is labeled a “traitor” and disappeared by ICE?

R

If we learned anything from 2025 it’s that checks and balances only work when a critical mass of people agree to them. One of the US’s major political parties has abandoned rule of law and sent ICE on a modern day witch hunt against immigrants and perceived enemies. If you don’t like it, time to move. An anarchist would say this situation is a great example of why we shouldn’t outsource governance to entities that have power over us.

As I understand it, anarchism is less about eliminating laws and more about eliminating hierarchy. It’s bottom-up governance that requires lots of participation from everyone involved. You and your peers can establish laws for your neighborhood/town/etc., but everyone affected by that law needs to directly participate in its writing and there must be broad consensus before it is enacted. Law enforcement must be communal; you cannot outsource it to a police force, lest the police become oppressive.

When I think of anarchism I sometimes think of colonial New England: small towns that are largely autonomous, where communal decisions are made at town hall meetings and the locals manage themselves. It’s not a perfect analogy since there were higher levels of government, but day-to-day governance was very grass-roots.