gabbath

Well you never know when it's a MAGA event...

I'm inclined towards the opposite: Kirk would have been too valuable to them. He's been one of the biggest propagandists and doing good work. Plus his debate shtick works really well on unsuspecting people with no opinions because he comes off like a well informed and well meaning "debate me" dork rather than a chud sociopath (though he is more like that on his shows, especially the one with Jack Posobiec who's a more unhinged nazi, but only the truly committed end up watching those since it's a much less entertaining format than "Kirk DESTROYS student" vertical clips).

I mean, compare that to when Matt Walsh does public debates with young people: the sleaze on that guy is permanent, he gives off Handmaid's Tale commander vibes. The newbie reaction is less "he seems to have a point" and more "why is he allowed around minors". Basically what I'm saying is I think they would have picked someone less crucial to their operation if it were a Trump hit job, someone like Jack Posobiec or even smaller. It would have had literally the same effect.

Wait, really? Nobody knew him? I guess it makes sense: everyone knows the song but nobody knows the singer. Only in this case it's not a song, it's propaganda and indoctrination. Like how if Christopher Rufo kicked the bucket, few would know he literally invented the CRT scare.

Oh really? I didn't know about that. Thanks! I meant they theoretically have full control over the app since they build the whole thing, rather than have it run in a browser environment which they can't control and could theoretically be altered with extensions etc. Seems they're not that great at controlling their own app either, lol

I know the main topic is ditching Spotify, but on the secondary topic of screwing over Spotify...

I realized that you can "pirate" Spotify (i.e. listen indefinitely as if you had a paid account) if you have uBlock Origin on Edge. No setup needed, it just works. Most likely any Chromium-like browser will work.

Unfortunately, I haven't got it to work with Zen browser which is Firefox based so I'm not sure if all Firefox based browsers are affected. The workaround I have for now is just have Edge open with Spotify in the background, and control it from the Spotify interface on Zen. Never download the app, they control that fully.

Funnily enough, I also got ad-free Spotify play on Amazon Echo when I was controlling it from Edge, though I never tried with Zen because I don't use Echo anymore.

PS: For audiophiles this is probably not gonna fly, as you don't have access to the highest bit rates iirc.

Love - Forever Changes. The whole album.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lIfiGGgw0nJ6H3UcVvp1UbFhwr0LGPiBE

To each their own, I suppose. I'm fine with people opting to work more, like maybe get a second job or something if they feel like they have too much time with nothing to do, but that's the thing: they should be able to choose. A shorter work week wouldn't impede someone like you, it would actually help you make more money by freeing up time for you to take on more projects. Think of it more as "my time, my choice".

Nah, I need to unload all the work stuff from my brain for a straight few days. If anything, I'd rather have 2x10h days since I tend to overflow the 8-9h anyway.

Well yeah, but they're also a problem on their own, in the same way metastasized cancer is a problem compared to early stages cancer. If that makes sense.

The effect Cenk had on the people at that conference backfired. Kirk played him like a fiddle and they only talked about common ground issues. To their audience it came off as "we're so right that even this leftist agrees with us".

That's my gut feeling as well. Gerrymandering is a Republican tradition and they've been doing it in red states for decades now. Hard to believe there's much more to squeeze from it. Blue states however...

Somehow I doubt the trumpers are worried. They just want to win. If anything can guarantee their state goes for Trump they'll take it.

I'm not American, but from my limited experience, my QAnon relatives (who are immigrants themselves in another western country!) were ok with martial law and taking away women's rights as the price to pay to get out of the "dictatorship" they imagined with "forced vaccination" and "LGBT indoctrination" and immigrant "invasion". They also have no problem with taking away LGBT rights because "they have too many now, look at Hollywood". They constantly bring up about how Jews run the world and how bad Israel is, but they have no problem with Trump being their lapdog and enabling their worst atrocities and fantasizing about building a riviera in Gaza. When all the Palestinians there will have perished (something I dread is likely to happen), they'll probably credit Trump with ending the genocide. And don't get me started on Epstein, which was their whole reason for joining QAnon. Back in February they were excitedly telling me, unprompted, how Pam Bondi says the files are on her desk. They haven't said anything since. Wanna bet they'll get defensive if I ask them about it now?

My point is these people don't care about democracy or human rights, they just scream about them when they experience disconfort, but really all they want is a godking who punishes "the right people" and reminds them every 10 seconds how special they are and how they deserve freedom and sovereignty not like the bad people who they are always persecuted by.