I look at it in the reverse. I want this platform to stream at home. If it’s a pain to use at home without internt then it’s lost the plot. I’d setup Plex with the trusted local network in the config file and all of that, but then I still have reconfigure my clients and then they all get admin access so all my parental controls are gone. Jellyfin and Emby get this right and Plex does not, so I dropped Plex. I ended up on Em by instead of Jelly because Direct Play/Stream just wasn’t really working for me in Jelly (that may well have been due to my hosting on a Synology NAS).

FYI DS9 isn’t really a “skip around” series. Plenty of long plot arcs as the series goes on.

'Taco man’s just doesn’t sound like an insult.

It has to be one of those ‘Lim_x as X approaches 0’ Calculus things where X is the value of Discord Orbs.

I’m not sure what’s worse. States like Texas where a supermajority in the legislature needs to approve a ballot initiative, or shit like Missouri when the blatant will of the people is so egregiously discarded by the institutions that should only exist with the peoples’ permission.

Vices actually sell better during times of hardship.

https://stocknews.com/news/pm-stz-sam-brew-4-strong-vice-stocks-to-own-during-the-recession-and/

we tried that

We most certainly have not.

https://statesunited.org/resources/voter-turnout-since-2000/

In 2022 the highest primary turnout was 40%, in 2020 the highest was 45%. And this is overall turnout, not even by party. In the Texas 2022 primary there were 1.1M Democratic ballots cast out of 17.2M registered voters (no party registration here).

🎵See … my… vest! See my vest! It’s authentic Ostrich chest!🎵

It is pucture-based, but the is more of grouping images clipped from websites (you can upload your own images, too).

The people who did not learn correctly from the YouTube videos and now have a flooded house.

I think the gerrymandering helps fuel the “my vote won’t matter” mentality that keeps people at home. I think wording like “winning by 10 points” instead of “winning with 23.6% of registered voters to Beto’s 18.8% of registered voters” also helps to fuel the apathy. Only 5% of registered voters showing up could have changed the outcome. That 10 point margin was about 1.1M out of ~8M votes cast with 7M registered voters not voting. Ten points sounds like a huge margin, but it’s considerably less impressive when you look at the raw numbers of registered voters sitting things out, not even factoring in eligible but unregistered.

The legislative districts are too gerrymandered to turn the majority, so we have to turn state-wide seats first. And the big three executive branch offices have their elections in presidential mid-terms when turnout is low. Abbot won in 2023 by about 1.1M votes. In 2024 about 7.3M registered voters didn’t cast a ballot. Even turning in an empty ballot to protest is better than not voting at all, because it shows you’re engaged in the process. Just fucking go out and vote already.

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/06/texas-voter-turnout-election-2024-registration/ https://www.npr.org/2022/11/08/1134832026/texas-governor-election-results-greg-abbott-beto-orourke

They put a shit ton of money into state races, too. Their plan was to get enough state legislatures in their pocket to call a constitutional convention and rewrite the US as an anarcho-capitalist state.

Not disputing anything you’ve said, but the reality is also that the winner of pretty much every election at the state and federal level will be won by either the Democratic or Republican nominee. Fewer than 99% of state and federal legislative seats in the country are held by third party or independent (2 out of 535 federally are Independent, none are third party).

https://ballotpedia.org/Current_independent_and_minor_party_federal_and_state_officeholders

Both parties weaponize this, for sure. But the only message not voting sends to those in power is that your opinion doesn’t matter and they don’t have to waste any effort trying to win you over. One of the two will win whether you participate or not. And clearly, there is a real difference with real consequences as to which one it is.

Better not break his arms.

A third party forces the Democrats into a leveraged position, even if it only holds 5-10% of the votes. It doesn’t even need a candidate on the ballot, because it forces the other candidates to become responsive to the third parties platform. This helps Democrats because it can move them from unviable, unelectable positions, like the ones they took in 2024, towards viable, electable, popular positions like the ones Bernie and AOC are advocating for.

We’ve had third parties for decades and this hasn’t happened yet. How do you propose succeeding at it this time? Bernie ran in the Democratic Primary in his first run for Senate. He won it. He turned it down and ran as an independent but he already had the voters on his side from the Democratic primary. AOC, and other Squad members, ran in the Democratic primary because of Bernie’s run in the Democratic primary in 2016.

For example, their rightwing pivots on trans rights and the border, not because anyone inside the party was advocating for it, but because of advocacy from the right and from the RNC.

I disagree with your conclusion here. I believe this pivot was because more right wing voters consistently turn up to the polls to vote on these issues than do left wing voters. They see the voters who advocate for trans rights and immigrant rights skipping the primary and declaring that they’re not going to vote, so the party targets the voters who say they will come out to vote.

There hasn’t been a single Electoral College vote for a 3rd party presidential candidate since 1968. Even when Perot received 19% of the national popular vote. Third party and independent legislators hold under 1% of the seats at the state and federal level. In 2024 only 3 third parties were on the ballot in more than 10 states, and none were on the ballot in all 50. You’re better off putting that effort into overtaking your local and state Democratic party, because of ballot access That means both with better candidates running in the primaries and voters showing up to secure them the nomination, but also actually joining the party and voting in the internal leadership elections.

Only 21 states allow direct legislation by voter-led ballot initiatives. How are you going to overcome first-past-the-post spoiling the vote in favor of Republicans at the national level facing these odds?

Yes, but it’s technically 26 that support them at all. Two of those only allow a ballot veto initiative. Three only allow constitutional amendments (and I just learned that in one of those three, MS, has adjudicated that the requirements are not possible to reach). So only 21 states allow voters to legislate by direct ballot initiative.

https://ballotpedia.org/States_with_initiative_or_referendum

And guess what the venn diagram of states that don’t have them vs those with a shitty unrepresentative legislature (ie the states that need them in order to pass the kinds of things Sanders and AOC are advocating) looks like.

Ballot initiatives for electoral reform in enough states to make third parties viable at the federal level is, in my opinion, less likely than turning the Democratic party through high primary voter turnout. If your state supports them, absolutely take advantage. But if not then you need to both keep fighting to move the needle in the primary while voting in all elections for all levels, and fighting your state legislature for ballot initiatives (and ranked choice/approval voting).