whats on my mind for now lol lol
time travel and alternate realities lol
time travel and alternate realities lol
Random Thoughts...or...What's on Your Mind?
- Thread starter Sibyl
- Start date
Got another injection through the length of my heel.
FUCK, that hurt. The middle of my foot is getting better but the heel still hurts like hell .
FUCK, that hurt. The middle of my foot is getting better but the heel still hurts like hell .
And can mean the same thing depending on how one drives.
Why does the Trump administration think the war with Iran is something to be joked about?
They are murdering innocent people, it's not funny.
They are murdering innocent people, it's not funny.
Because they have no soul, no compassion and no shame.
It just further illustrates the depths of the administration's depravity.
It just further illustrates the depths of the administration's depravity.
It shouldn't be allowed for them to post things like this. It's not funny at all.
The vocal part of Massive Attack's "Teardrop" would sound amazing on sarangi.
Interesting. That is one of my favorite songs.
If I can transcribe it into sargam (Indian notation analogous to Western solfège) and find a transposed karaoke track, I can try to play it on my dilruba, which is a related instrument.
The administration is made up of self-centred, uncaring trolls, who treat their jobs with the seriousness of a cadre of drunken frat boys.
It's sick, but after what we've seen over the past year-and-a-bit, it's hardly surprising.
It is nothing new. The issues you speak of have existed long before Trump was ever President. The toxicity of American politics, abuses of power, etc, have gone on for decades. While yes, I do agree with you, the issue is far deeper than just the current Administration. It is the outcome of a pervasive elite existing with little to no consequences for their actions for many many years.
Robert Palmer did something similar with one of his songs.
I don't have the liner notes handy, but he wrote the lyrics in English then had them transcribed to a Middle Eastern tongue (which region/language escapes me at the moment), then learned to sing it phonetically.
This was the result.
Well that was cool and unexpected. It's like my entire music library condensed into a single track :P
I just looked it up, and it's in Urdu, which is Pakistan's official language and also spoken in adjacent parts of India.
I have finally found the words to fully articulate how I see American politics as an American, at least clearly enough to satisfy myself. I've written versions of these thoughts before, here and elsewhere, but now I want to express them fully.
I also suspect some others here might find my thoughts worth considering. I'm not really interested in getting involved much in the "Day to Day" events or specific issues as they arise, so this is a rather broad encapsulation of my thoughts.
In American politics today, most people aren't actually committed to truth. What they want is victory for their side. Those two impulses are not the same, yet the distinction rarely registers. The people you see raging online about issue X or Y almost never pause to notice it. They will defend an obvious lie if it comes from their camp and attack an inconvenient truth if it comes from the other. They have outsourced both their reasoning and their identity to strangers online and on TV that they've never met, then labeled the result they came up with in their minds as "truth". Because they have so little clue as to who they are and what they believe, they worship other people as if they are Gods.
Most Americans have not had a single original political thought in their adult lives—only reactions, reflexes, and the primal rush of watching the "enemy" take a hit. The harder truth about Americans is that very few of them hold genuine convictions. What they have are loyalties masquerading as convictions. Most know very little; they were told something, it felt right because the people around them nodded, and that was enough for them. Passion for truth has been largely replaced by the never-ending addiction to the culture war and the constant desire to seek validation from their "team". The independent "free thinker" has become almost extinct in mainstream political discourse.
What remains of American political discussion is two mirror-image tribes/camps, each certain it is the sane and rational one. Each wields reason as a weapon pointed outward, never inward. Both act almost entirely identical in behavior but are diametrically opposed to each other.
We have stopped being shocked by falsehoods. We treat them as normal. Supporters shield their preferred politicians with excuses or outright lies, driven more by team loyalty than evidence. Opponents routinely exaggerate or fabricate claims to make the other side look worse—even when the unvarnished facts alone would already suffice.
Over time, this dynamic drives away independent and free-thinking people. Many quietly withdraw: they stop voting, stop arguing, stop engaging altogether—like someone finally leaving a toxic relationship. Yet these are exactly the minds a free society most needs: those who place facts and integrity above blind allegiance to party or tribe.
Participants on both sides of the aisle have only doubled down in the past decade. They have only amplified exaggerated praise for their own camp and vicious attacks on the other. Genuine debate has long since degraded into performative tribal combat—mockery, ridicule, point-scoring—anything but a shared search for what is true or what actually benefits the country.
The result is two entrenched camps that no longer value honesty or accountability. Each side refuses to criticize its own leaders' lies or failures, terrified of giving ammunition to the enemy. Loyalty has become the supreme virtue, ranked above truth, integrity, or responsibility. When a politician from one side does exactly what they condemned on the other side, fresh excuses and new falsehoods appear out of the blue almost instantly. Anyone inside the tribe who demands accountability is quickly labeled a traitor. (Thomas Massie is the perfect example of this in the Republican Party Which is exactly why I like him, and why I am inclined to give my support to him over anyone else in US politics currently. He is one of the few Republicans who actually want justice over the Epstein Files).
Good ideas from one side are reflexively rejected simply because of their origin. Bad ideas from one's own side are defended no matter how obviously flawed. This system reliably rewards politicians who are skilled at deception rather than lawful/honest governance. They campaign with bold, base-pleasing promises—grand benefits for supporters, pain for opponents—but once in office, much of the rhetoric is quietly shelved. They toss occasional symbolic gestures or red-meat statements to keep the faithful of their camp/tribe energized, yet their actual behavior often mirrors what the other side did in power. The primary difference is the partisan packaging.
In the end, a society that normalizes lies produces leaders who excel at manipulation rather than problem-solving, and a citizenry more invested in winning tribal battles than in pursuing shared truth or meaningful progress. The long-term cost is a weakened and divided republic in which trust, accountability, and genuine solutions become increasingly scarce, while performative combat and search of constant validation overshadows nearly everything.
Republican and Democratic politicians think they're both in the right to lie - because they keep getting elected. They've got things exactly where they want them. As long as they have their cultists to fight the battles for them, and as long as they keep getting attention, there's no need for them to do what any of us think is right.
At the end of it all, I feel like a stranger in a strange land. Basic common sense and rational thinking have gone out the window entirely in this country, and it is for that reason I consider myself Independent.
I also suspect some others here might find my thoughts worth considering. I'm not really interested in getting involved much in the "Day to Day" events or specific issues as they arise, so this is a rather broad encapsulation of my thoughts.
In American politics today, most people aren't actually committed to truth. What they want is victory for their side. Those two impulses are not the same, yet the distinction rarely registers. The people you see raging online about issue X or Y almost never pause to notice it. They will defend an obvious lie if it comes from their camp and attack an inconvenient truth if it comes from the other. They have outsourced both their reasoning and their identity to strangers online and on TV that they've never met, then labeled the result they came up with in their minds as "truth". Because they have so little clue as to who they are and what they believe, they worship other people as if they are Gods.
Most Americans have not had a single original political thought in their adult lives—only reactions, reflexes, and the primal rush of watching the "enemy" take a hit. The harder truth about Americans is that very few of them hold genuine convictions. What they have are loyalties masquerading as convictions. Most know very little; they were told something, it felt right because the people around them nodded, and that was enough for them. Passion for truth has been largely replaced by the never-ending addiction to the culture war and the constant desire to seek validation from their "team". The independent "free thinker" has become almost extinct in mainstream political discourse.
What remains of American political discussion is two mirror-image tribes/camps, each certain it is the sane and rational one. Each wields reason as a weapon pointed outward, never inward. Both act almost entirely identical in behavior but are diametrically opposed to each other.
We have stopped being shocked by falsehoods. We treat them as normal. Supporters shield their preferred politicians with excuses or outright lies, driven more by team loyalty than evidence. Opponents routinely exaggerate or fabricate claims to make the other side look worse—even when the unvarnished facts alone would already suffice.
Over time, this dynamic drives away independent and free-thinking people. Many quietly withdraw: they stop voting, stop arguing, stop engaging altogether—like someone finally leaving a toxic relationship. Yet these are exactly the minds a free society most needs: those who place facts and integrity above blind allegiance to party or tribe.
Participants on both sides of the aisle have only doubled down in the past decade. They have only amplified exaggerated praise for their own camp and vicious attacks on the other. Genuine debate has long since degraded into performative tribal combat—mockery, ridicule, point-scoring—anything but a shared search for what is true or what actually benefits the country.
The result is two entrenched camps that no longer value honesty or accountability. Each side refuses to criticize its own leaders' lies or failures, terrified of giving ammunition to the enemy. Loyalty has become the supreme virtue, ranked above truth, integrity, or responsibility. When a politician from one side does exactly what they condemned on the other side, fresh excuses and new falsehoods appear out of the blue almost instantly. Anyone inside the tribe who demands accountability is quickly labeled a traitor. (Thomas Massie is the perfect example of this in the Republican Party Which is exactly why I like him, and why I am inclined to give my support to him over anyone else in US politics currently. He is one of the few Republicans who actually want justice over the Epstein Files).
Good ideas from one side are reflexively rejected simply because of their origin. Bad ideas from one's own side are defended no matter how obviously flawed. This system reliably rewards politicians who are skilled at deception rather than lawful/honest governance. They campaign with bold, base-pleasing promises—grand benefits for supporters, pain for opponents—but once in office, much of the rhetoric is quietly shelved. They toss occasional symbolic gestures or red-meat statements to keep the faithful of their camp/tribe energized, yet their actual behavior often mirrors what the other side did in power. The primary difference is the partisan packaging.
In the end, a society that normalizes lies produces leaders who excel at manipulation rather than problem-solving, and a citizenry more invested in winning tribal battles than in pursuing shared truth or meaningful progress. The long-term cost is a weakened and divided republic in which trust, accountability, and genuine solutions become increasingly scarce, while performative combat and search of constant validation overshadows nearly everything.
Republican and Democratic politicians think they're both in the right to lie - because they keep getting elected. They've got things exactly where they want them. As long as they have their cultists to fight the battles for them, and as long as they keep getting attention, there's no need for them to do what any of us think is right.
At the end of it all, I feel like a stranger in a strange land. Basic common sense and rational thinking have gone out the window entirely in this country, and it is for that reason I consider myself Independent.
Making fun of a sibling when their team loses is priceless. Especially that sibling made fun of me last week. It did give me a laugh. It will be interest to see if my bro replies later on. I am quite happy at the moment.
Why, in todays modern world, do you still have to spend time completing paperwork when checking into hotels or picking up hire cars?
Even when you have 'checked in' online it's still often a time consuming process. Surely should be a case of just picking up keys.
Even when you have 'checked in' online it's still often a time consuming process. Surely should be a case of just picking up keys.
Why when dining out does your food get served to the table and then you are asked if you want any sauces? Surely would be better to ask before so you aren't sat waiting with hot food on the table?
Unlike America where they have a far left party and a far right party, here in Australia, our two main parties are centre left and centre right. They are so similar, you would have to look them up on the internet to know which is which because no one ever talks about "the left" or the "the right" over here. Our politicians have the collective charisma of a brick, so we'll never have an Obama or a Trump. And that's how it should be.
However, when I want to be entertained, I watch news about American politics. Australian politics is boring.
However, when I want to be entertained, I watch news about American politics. Australian politics is boring.
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