And power… that’s enough in and of itself sometimes.
Wrong. There is a lesser evil. And there is a much, much greater evil.
These statements might have made sense 20, even 10 years ago. But they do not apply anymore.
Are Dems in the hands of corporate interests? Yes.
Are they also the ONLY ones working for affordable healthcare, housing, living wages, workers’ rights, women’s rights, minority rights, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and, yes actually, limits on corporate greed and the power of money in politics. YES.
There is very, very, very fucking exceedingly clearly a lesser evil in 2024. There was a lesser evil in 2020 and there was a lesser evil in 2016.
Bothsideserism is BULLSHIT
I believed that too… until Dems went all in for supporting Israel in its genocide attempts, and completely brush off any pushback or criticism from their constituents and label them as antisemites for it, all while feverishly using the boogeyman of a potential second Trump presidency to justify sticking to this course to the public and insisting on supporting the administration financing that genocide at any cost just to avoid it.
Not to mention literally stepping our First Amendment rights by banning TikTok using the boogeyman of Chinese influence despite all the other companies that don’t just potentially use the information of American consumers but actually do it, and all because Mark Zuckerberg is upset that TikTok is taking traffic away from his platform and that the old, career politicians on both sides don’t like that the younger generations use TikTok to report on things they don’t want us to know about in real time like no other platform.
Not to mention all the empty and broken promises they’ve made for years that they never followed through on despite being in positions to do so, such as not codifying abortion rights into law when they had the majority, not passing universal healthcare and eliminating student loan debt. Sure, those things will be awful under Republican rule, but we’re currently under Democrat rule, and those things are still problems, but they do make things just better enough to get the rest of us to shrug and go “at least that’s something, I’ll vote for them again and maybe this time they’ll actually give it to us how we want it.”
I believed bothsidesism was bullshit, until the most recent few months showed me what happens when you expect the “lesser evil” side to actually live up to their rhetoric, but they showed their hand as the same war hawks who support suppression of information just like their counterparts on the right, while getting nothing meaningful done when they have the opportunity. They just use nicer words about it.
And I actually owe @Khakiasp a bit of an apology for trying to argue that same point last year.
Now, I do still hold out hope that all this can be turned around and they can show me I’m wrong, but so far, doesn’t appear to be on the horizon.
Political extremists love this trick
Yeah, I’ll definitely be voting this year, even if my vote for is for Labour and I can’t say I’m terribly impressed by them. I live in a seat which is contested 3 ways by Labour, SNP, and Conservative, so I do know that my vote will count.
My driving instructor said that I can book a test.
I am aiming for first dates of June.
It’s not booked yet, but I hope there will be available slots then and I get back here with good news
I am travelling to Brussels on a business trip for around three months. I am happy and sad at the same time as I am visiting europe for the first time and will miss my 18 months old daughter for these months.
Two of my colleagues will be with me and if possible we have plans to travel in and around Belgium during weekends.
I have a 13 hour long flight tonight, transit at Doha. Two of these 6 hour flights will be really boring as I will be travelling alone from a different location and flight than my colleagues.
Unfortunately No as I will be working at client’s office unless there is local holidays. But Saturday and Sunday is holiday - I get around 12 weekends. I am not sure with the Schengen visa, I can travel outside Belgium to neighbouring countries for vacation on weekends.
Is there any plan of your band at Brussels ?? Do let me know your band name, I can attend maybe
If possible and visa allowed, I can also try to visit Copenhagen IOI office too. My european forum mates may suggest for travels and all.
Looks like they ripped you off, the almost nonexistent amount of blueberries is a crime.
Hope you enjoyed it, either way.
Sawdust, I’m afraid. The latte was passable, at least.
Don’t limit yourself to just Belgium on weekends. Amsterdam is just 3 hours by train. London is only 2 and a half hours. Germany, France, and plenty of other places are within rail reach. Flights can be cheap too and now you can really add some countries to your list (=
Thanks, I reached Brussels yesterday and got the apartment. My manager booked a good apartment. I had a challenge as my phone with my fingerprint was not working, was asking a PIN, it was working in Doha. So finally had to reset and format the data, (thankfully took a full backup of data at home just before travelling, only lost the Airports photo which I can retake on return flight, some photo I can download from forum page).
Not too shabby!!! A balcony too! Looks like a great place to call home for a few months.
Well enjoy it all my friend. There is an absinthe bar with an androgynous bartender near the little boy peeing statue that I have been thrown out of a few times that is worth your time. It’s directly across an ally from the major delirium bar with tons and tons of beers. Like 3000 or 5000 I think. Then there is the Statue of JCVD which is an absolute must… and after that ask @Franz bc he lives in Belgium. He even met me up for a beer once not that long ago.
Cheers!
Today is fucked, I had an appointment with the dentist. I had the “good fortune” of getting an appontment with my good but exclusive dentist the same day I asked for one (yesterday) since they had a cancellation. Today on my way to the appointment I get into “an impromptu vehicular paint swap” or a minor bingle if you will. I had the double “good fortune” to get another appointment later that day thanks to another cancellation. I had to spend three hours in my car because it wasn’t worth going back home then going back to the dentist driving the only route that wouldn’t be clogged with traffic, the route I was on when I had my paint exchange."
So I had a scrape, a visit to the dentist and I have to have three fillings three weeks for now for a lump sum of four hundred dollars… I think most of you here can relax knowing your day isn’t as shit as mine has been.
So you survived a car crash with no injuries and minor damage to your vehicle, were able to get two separate same day dental appointments, arranged to have a necessary procedure done at an affordable price, and all without having to spend your day at work.
Did I just put a positive spin on something? Wtf just happened? Anyway, with how my week has gone at work, your day seems welcome to me. Not to dismiss the frustration you felt, mind you.
Today I accidentally triggered a security alarm at work. My manager didn’t care as they were able to reset it quickly but I was dying of embarrassment.
Allegedly.
Also the only guy who could “prove” such a made up event is no longer at IO.
Pure fiction.