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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • Your dad is correct in that every driver gets into an accident at one point or another. You have your license, which means you passed the test. And while the test is the bare minimum, you did meet it.

    Every driver starts out new, and has to learn a lot. It can take years before you are truly comfortable, and that’s OK.

    My recommendation would be to not give up driving cold turkey, but only drive when you are comfortable. Find an errand you need to run once or twice a week and do that route consistently. (Or, if you are working, do your work commute by a consistent route every day). Learn that route, and where all the tricky things are. You may find that after a month or two, you build enough confidence on that one drive that you are not spooked by other drives.



  • The actual parade route is super tiny, less than a mile. NYT published a parade route map, and the troops have a longer walk to the parade start point than the parade route itself. It is just going by the National Mall, and that’s it. My local town Memorial Day parade (which only had the mayor, boy/girl scouts, fire department, and school marching band) was longer.

    (Edited to add: I don’t want to sell the town Memorial Day parade short, it also had a bunch of cool old tractors…)






  • I’m saying that States cannot have Federal referendums. States can have State Referendums. More than one state can hold a referendum at the same time if their own Constitutions allow it, but they are all still State Referendums.

    The Federal government does not have the power to hold country-wide referendums, it would have to be given the power through an amendment, which would also specify the parameters (and, more importantly, the limits) of this new power the people are giving to its Federal Government.

    (This all assumes the Constitution still matters, which is a matter for debate these days)


  • Believe it or not, the US has no mechanism for a national election. While the Federal Government sets guidelines for elections, each state runs its own. Every election is on the state level. Even the Presidential Election, thanks to the Electoral College, is really just a weighted sum of the outcome of 50 state elections (and DC).

    Even Constitutional Amendments go through a state-by-state ratification process.

    I think it’s impossible to do any sort of true nationwide referendum without a Constitutional Amendment happening first. Remember that the Constitution explicitly states that any powers not explicitly given to the Federal Government are reserved for the States (and the People). So the power to have Federal referendums would need to be explicitly granted.




  • This may be a bit heavy-handed, but it is done for a reason. Trump wants to use “lawlessness” as an excuse to send troops in.

    By implementing this curfew and making these arrests, the LAPD can demonstrate that it has the situation under control, and there is no need for the Feds to get involved. If California’s lawsuit against the Feds ends up working, and the court finds the troop deployment unlawful, this curfew enforcement might very well be the reason.







  • My biggest issue is with how AI is being marketed, particularly by Apple. Every single Apple Intelligence commercial is about a mediocre person who is not up to the task in front of them, but asks their iPhone for help and ends up skating by. Their families are happy, their co-workers are impressed, and they learn nothing about how to handle the task on their own the next time except that their phone bailed their lame ass out.

    It seems to be a reflection of our current political climate, though, where expertise is ignored, competence is scorned, and everyone is out for themselves.