Alarming.

My favorite part about modern republicans is that they made me look back fondly on former republican leaders who I used to despise. “Ahhhhh… binders of women. Those were the days.”

In fairness, it’s Wired who called them creatives, while Adobe called them artists.

If you can think of two boats meeting in open water, there’s porn of it on the internet.

Influencers are paid product shills. Most have no scruples or real positions. They produce whatever content will attract followers so that they can maximize their sponsorship dollars. These aren’t serious opinions anyone should pay much mind to.

Whether or not you win additional concessions depends on what information or knowledge you have about an organization that could prove damaging in some respect, and whether or not you can afford legal representation. But it is negotiable.

She, in particular, does seem to be earning more rebuke from her Republican peers of late. Some of them have recognized that the antics on display by Greene and her ilk are beginning to wear on constituents more and more by the day, and are attempting to distance themselves in acts of self preservation.

While I hope that it doesn’t work and that these folks also lose their voice and seat, it does seem to bode well that at least a minor course correction is happening in the GOP, if not far too late. I’m not completely optimistic, though, because the constituency hasn’t suddenly become less divided - we’ve just seemingly found the bounds of the caricature the right wing of this country is comfortable with being publicly represented by.

GG Allin’s Fingerpaints

Often, yes. Outside of more senior level white collar careers, severance is often not guaranteed upon separation here. In many states, “Right to Work” labor laws enable an employer to terminate an employee for nearly any reason. To make matters worse, our health insurance is provided as a benefit by our employers, so losing your job not only means you lose your source of income, but also your means of keeping yourself healthy and getting care should you need it.

And in many cases, even if you do receive severance, the company determines what your separation package includes, and the calculations used to determine the value is kept behind closed doors and obscured from the employee. The packages are presented as non-negotiable, even though they aren’t, and employees being let go are often pressured to sign the agreement in a very short window or risk having the offer of severance rescinded. Often what is offered is a pittance, but generally Americans don’t push back against it. It’s a “better than nothing, I guess” situation.

So yeah - being laid off is a tremendously stressful and life altering experience here for the vast majority of the working and middle class.

I think the barrier to entry also helps a bit. The folks willing to put up with the rough edges that Lemmy has are also likely willing to participate with the intent of making Lemmy a success rather than just “hangers on” as it were. With a 1600% growth in “active” user population, there are definitely a ton of lurkers, yet. Once it becomes more approachable, we’ll see if the community feeling that Lemmy has begins to tarnish and fade as the volume of interaction and content rises.