there is nothing to feel excited or hopeful about from american progressives at the moment, so it is all cope posting. i am more disheartened by posts like the one that showed up the other day eith a link to a supposed story about a cybertruck owner who complained that he got laughed at by children. it is not news, it is not worthwhile, it has not enriched the lives of anyone who read it. it is an outlet to expend political energy for those who dont know what else to do. politics are unavoidable, and complaining about politics is natural and can be cathartic, but at this level it is drain that is part of a trumps political strategy.

a lot of people here migrated from reddit for political reasons, so a lot of the communities have been set up by those who tend to view things in a political way. it also seems that the general climate in the united states, where a large amount of the english language content is made, views nearly everything as political, either caused or reinforced by american politics dominating most forms of media.

it also cant be discounted that there are certain users whose sole motivation for posting in any community is either bait or propaganda, which can spoil any community that does not have very active moderation or rules prohibiting political posts or comments.

the scariest implication of this whole business is the most favorable interpretation of the nonplussed reaction of the majority is that they are in such denial that a nazi government could be possible again in a first world country that they cant see it for what it is. that is to say, the exact things the people who lived through it had been vigilant to remind us about ever since.

i definitely agree that it empowers legitimate nazis, which i suppose could be his way of cultivating a voter base which no other candidate would openly support but would vote for whoever he throws his money behind as trump will no longer be a valid candidate. a best case scenario here would be that this kind of attention is too much even for trump to tolerate and will cut ties with him. i feel that would be likely to happen regardless, as they are two narcissists of the highest order, but it would be better if it happens sooner.

i think he allowed himself to do it as part of his edgelord persona, trying to trigger people on purpose. the motion is intentional as his arm shoots straight out to the side as opposed to being directed to the center of the crowd or sweeping across the crowd as if to spread his “heart” as it were.

the autism defense is one that i think is being used to try to checkmate the left on the subject, as they are the most offended by the gesture but also more likely to be sensitive to neurodivergent persons and potentially less likely to criticize their actions.

in short, i believe he intended the gesture as interpreted, just not as a genuine expression of his personal beliefs. that being said, i think hes a white supremacist fascist, but i dont think he thinks hes a white supremacist fascist.

sorry, ive never left a comment like that before and didnt realize it would look off. thanks!

aside from some of the more obvious choices (rushdie, wallace, mccarthy, morrison):

don delillo, esp. underworld and white noise

ted chiang, esp. exhalation

marilyn robinson, esp. housekeeping

denis johnson, esp. jesus’ son and tree of smoke

colson whitehead, esp. the intuitionist and the nickel boys

and while relatively new so maybe not at the same status as some other writers, jamil jan kochai and nana kwame adjei-brenyah will be making lists like these in the future if they keep writing the way they have.

there is a website for a pizza place in seattle whose website does this, maybe you can get some inspiration. dinos

could be worse

i shop bulk as much as i can, eat oatmeal for breakfast daily, and after i had my gall bladder removed i got in the habit of eating 2-3oz portions of animal protein no more than 5 times a week. i spend a bunch of time in the kitchen every week but it definitely softens the blow. it also helps that i have a couple of cheap staple meals i can make for less than $5 per serving.

i also shop around for value. i live near 4 different grocery stores so i dont spend a lot of time doing it, but i do make a run to grocery outlet every month in order to get discounts on bigger items but it can be hit or miss.

i am desperately praying for a pineprinter

i imagine theres a lot of overlap.

i do understand your perspective. i have avoided social media for the last 15 years, and had only interacted on reddit very rarely before moving to lemmy, so it may be that i am less disillusioned, but it seems to me that the better the information, the less negative discourse seems to surround it. the article in the post will definitely incite a lot of negative feelings here, since it seems to confirm a lot of the beliefs of those who feel disenfranchised by the state of the world. so yea, the deck seems pretty well stacked against hope, at least on this thread.

anyway, i appreciate you getting back to me. its nice to hear some solid figures, and that does definitely give me some hope. $10k is achievable, and a 4% down payment is probably the most reassuring figure here, as a lot of the advice i hear is closer to 8-10% which make it just that much further out of reach as id have to save up twice as much or purchase a home worth half as much which is impossible in my current market.

if you could indulge me just a bit further, how far away from a metropolitan area are you? my wife has always grown up in cities and while she does like to visit more rural areas she isnt too keen on relying entirely on a car to get around, or having to own two cars to get by, but like i said before, im curious about any sacrifices wed have to make for that sort of lifestyle so, you know, if thats how it has to be then thats how it has to be.

ah, good to know. thanks for the tip!

i replied to your comment because it did give me a bit of hope that it was probable for someone without a six figure salary. i was just looking for some context to see what kind of sacrifices to my lifestyle and living situation i might have to make to achieve that. if it came off as passive or judgmental i am sorry. that was not my intention. i am glad you tried to give others hope that it can be done, but without a clear path to a goal, however conditional, it doesnt end up helping very much.

i dont mean to pry, but i have been trying to work out how i can do this for myself so id be interested how you were able to do it.

im not asking for your life story, and obviously share what youre comfortable with online, but some helpful info would be your salary range, location and cost of home, and down payment (even as just a percentage of the total home cost).

other useful contextual information would be how long it took you to save up for the down payment, whether you did so while paying rent, if you had any other assitance with the down payment (personal loan, gift from family, borrowed against your 401k, etc), state of the home (move-in ready/fixer upper/built yourself), whether you used the loan to acquire furniture, etc.

sorry if thats asking too much but id like to use you as a data point, even if just for myself, and i do need a bit of data to do that.

“applicants must be without decent, safe, and sanitary housing” is that a hard stop or is there some flexibility on that condition? im not trying to pry into your previous situation, but that makes it sound a bit more dire than the average renter.

ive made a fallout style playlist and my daughter has been loving these songs:

fairley holden - papas getting old

charlene arthur - just look, dont touch, hes mine

boswell sisters - everybody loves my baby

there is this film from the late 80s called miracle mile about a guy who answers an incoming call at a payphone outside a diner in los angeles, and its a panicked military officer who dialed the wrong phone number who says he just launched americas nukes and that a nuclear retaliation will hit american soil in about an hour. a lot of the film is spent without being fully convinced of the authenticity of the phone call and the film has a slightly dreamlike pacing which makes it feel pretty tense, and theres a scene that stuck with me where the main character has a nosebleed in the diner after the phone call. i feel like even as far as cult films go this one is a little under the radar and, even though its not a life altering film, probably deserves a little more credit than it gets.

i tend to be long-winded and i dont often have a good sense for what information is explicitly necessary, so i have started a fair few comments that ive lost steam on and convinced myself werent worth posting. i also have not participated in social media for about ten years, so i dont have the sense that i can just casually post something without it being particularly valid, but when i do post its after reassuring myself that what i say doesnt always have to be life-altering.

so yea, probably 40% of the time i bail if i start thinking about it more than i should, which is easy to do when i have to proofread so much due to florisboard not having autocorrect.

directed by miloš forman, who also directed one flew over the cuckoos nest, amadeus, and the people vs larry flynt. hard to believe anything hes done could end up being so underappreciated!