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Joined 7 months ago
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Cake day: February 23rd, 2024

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  • The large U.S. carriers have plans that are, I think, $20-30 a month and you get the newest phone as soon as it comes out, apple or Samsung. They also partner with manufacturers for discounts and trade-in deals, especially when a new model comes out. My last phone was 2 years old but when they offered me the newest one for something like $120 after trade-in (I think that was almost $1100 off, I don’t remember all the details) I upgraded everyone on my plan. I think they did the same thing this year but even with those discounts the pain in the ass of upgrading plus the price, even though it’s low, wasn’t worth the small year over year change. Probably next year or the year after. Assuming similar deals, that makes it $40-$60 a year to get a new phone every 2-3 years.

    Edit: You do have to stay with the carrier though. If you leave in less than 24 months you have to pay back a prorated part of the discount. Or at least the part that comes from the carrier, I think you keep the enhanced trade-in from the manufacturer.













  • As much as I loathe the guy, I think we all dodged a bullet.

    If he died of natural causes last month I don’t think the MAGAts would have rallied behind Desantis, or whomever got the nomination. I’m not saying they wouldn’t have voted for them, just that the excitement wouldn’t be there.

    If this has succeeded, the supporters would have transferred and been even more pumped up. And sympathy from those weird fuck undecideds could make the difference, not just in the presidency, but both chambers of Congress, and for their policy goals too.

    Riding the wake of an assassination the draconian shit they would push through could have been far worse than anything Trump would have been able to accomplish in a second term.

    Take civil rights legislation in the 60s; a lot of what LBJ accomplished was credited to the national feeling after the Kennedy assassination. Would JFK have been able to accomplish all that if he had served eight years with public sentiment toward civil rights being divided?

    It sucks that this is boosting his chances in November. But a martyr, a new figurehead, and a more energized base could have been far worse.



  • I’m just one person and my sample size is small. But judging by the number of right-leaning people I know that send me stuff from RT and other similar places, and the number of left leaning people who repeat dispiriting talking points I see in those pieces (They may never vote republican, but their enthusiasm is certainly being sapped.), I would say the percentage is quite high. That’s just people being swayed like you asked, not necessarily convinced to vote or act a certain way.

    Again, I’m just one person, but from what I see around me Russia and its allies are winning the propaganda war.


  • I make a little more than double the cap. I’m in favor of increasing or eliminating the cap but that would double my check in the future. (Not quite, I haven’t made double the cap my entire working life, but it would increase it a lot.) That would still help a bit because not all of our withholdings go to basic social security. Some goes to disability, spousal benefits, etc. Increasing taxes and benefits proportionally, which is the way benefits are structured now, doesn’t solve anything.

    I believe social security has a lot of value so I’m in favor of not just fixing the funding, but expanding it as well. But if you want to make it healthier just with payroll taxes they would have to be progressive, like income tax, without increasing benefits.


  • I guy I work with owned two condos in a development. The HOA passed a rule banning short term rentals. There were a lot of units being advertised on Airbnb and similar services so he put them on the market when he heard the rule was being proposed to beat the rush.

    He managed to sell one at market but the second one didn’t sell before all the other Airbnb landlords listed their places too. He had to take about 10% below market for the second one.

    Now those two places are owner occupied, and one of them got a nice deal (I don’t know about the ones sold by other people). And everything that sold in that area probably went for a little less for a while due to the glut on the market.

    Making renting less profitable works. People aren’t landlords because it’s fun. They do it for the money. Take away the money and you have less landlords.


  • I agree it will take him some time, maybe not quite as much as you think, but my point was I don’t think anyone else could even get there. Even Regan had limits in what the faithful would put up with, he wasn’t teflon. But no matter what Trump does, the MAGAts will support him and the moderate republicans, if there is such a thing anymore, will go along to avoid earning their wrath.

    There is only one caveat I can think of. Trump can do anything without losing MAGAt support, but he can’t say anything. There have been scattered instances of Trump saying something that deviated from the MAGA ethos and actually getting booed. He can still do the things that would get him booed but say he’s doing the exact opposite and those morons will never question it. He just has to keep assuring his cult he’s hurting the people they hate.

    As long as he keeps tossing red meat to those hateful scumbags by abusing our most vulnerable fellow citizens and increasing oppressive efforts on other groups they hate, they will cheer any and every thing he does even as they’re being herded into forced labor ghettos.


  • The difference is republican voters gargle his balls to an extent I’ve never seen, not even with Regan. The whole thing about being able to shoot someone on fifth avenue might be the truest thing he’s ever said.

    What this means is, with the help of a willing Congress he can do anything. Even things previous republican presidents couldn’t without losing support for themselves and their lackeys in Congress. Republicans in purple districts couldn’t pass just anything and expect to get reelected, but with Trump taking the lead you hardly even hear about individual representatives so they’re willing to vote for some crazy shit.

    He can feed them shit and call it caviar all day, every day. Republican voters will eat it up and never question it no matter how much it harms them.

    Republicans always do this to some extent, but usually there is a limit.

    Trump has no limits.