It’s not impossible to buy a car newer than '97 with cash.

*Sad Floridian noises

I might have to spend a good deal on maintenance over time, but I have always bought used, fully, in cash.

Having a car note in the hundreds of dollars each month just sounds bonkers to me.

I also chose to live in a city with amazing public transit so if my car breaks down I have options.

Why the timid headline? Do we have to wait for Israel’s word on what happened?

The people who own/work at CBS certainly seem to think so, which says a lot about their “journalism.”

I don’t exactly see an exodus of journalists to more independent publications because they refuse to print such horseshit, so yes, the people who work there are part of the problem, too.

My favorite zero calorie drink is water.

I feel bad for people’s whose stomachs get upset when drinking water, they have to turn to solutions like sugar-free drinks whether they like it or not.

As @[email protected] astutely points out, it’s a big deal for a lot of people with dietary issues, diabetics being the most prominent.

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

-Upton Sinclair

And while this is indeed pretty damning for TikTok, I’d wager that you could find the same kind of documents and lack of concern squirreled away at Facebook/Instagram, Snapchat, Xitter, and so on down the drain of badly managed social media. They all make way too much money from this kind of deal, so they’re not that hyped to make it all stop.

Corporate journalists:

Now go away before they taunt you a second time.

To your edit, similarly the final sequence of Nier Automata is so deeply rooted in not being alone, and encouraging one another, and being there for one another. A chance to break the cycle.

If I recall correctly, Yoko Taro had said he had been somewhat inspire by this Coca-cola campaign the “Small World Machines.”

Perhaps RPG’s with a party

Going more old school, Chrono Trigger is another great one with awesome supporting party characters.

That’s a neat fun fact I didn’t know, thanks! Looking it up now.

Starve the Beast. The conservatives use it for everything. Run on government not working, and then working to dismantle government to prove it.

I wanna wad you up into my life / Let’s roll up to be a single star in the sky

Such a killer fucking happy/upbeat soundtrack, too.

Bioshock Infinite - Elizabeth as a constant companion is a big theme in the game.

Beyond Good and Evil - A lot of great supporting cast like Pey’j.

Baldur’s Gate 3 - Massive emphasis on the relationships you have with your companions.

Brutal Legend - A quasi-RTS where caring for your bandmates and roadies is the only way to win.

Disco Elysium - Kim Kitsuragi, enough said.

Firewatch - Story driven rooted in character relationships, about being alone but trying to stay connected.

Hi-Fi Rush - Great cast of characters who are heavily involved with story and often around or talking to you.

Just Cause 3 - Probably the best in the series, for threading the comedy/action needle and giving you characters that are really lovable.

Katamari Damacy - Feel the love of the King of All Cosmos!

Life is Strange - Rooted entirely around your relationships with close friends and classmates.

Mad Max - Your own personal Gollum!

Nier Automata - You’ll always have your PODs.

Portal 2 - Wheatley will keep you good company.

Psychonauts / Psychonauts 2 - How can you be lonely when you’re inside someone else’s mind?

SkateBIRD - Make friends with birds!

Terraria - There’s always some new villager to find.

Because actually, the biggest change came on May 9th, 2013…

If I recall my understanding correctly, it’s 1) because there hasn’t been consistently this much CO2 in the atmosphere since an era when the planet whose climate was fundamentally different and 2) that this is an escape velocity type thing, where it becomes harder and harder for us to get back under 400ppm CO2 in the atmosphere, because of how long it takes for CO2 to be absorbed. Thus, climate change will spin out of control far faster in this new, different environment.

So literally, yes, we were climate changing, but post 2013 things are indeed a lot more grim and the outlook less clear.

These people are fools who are making a conscious choice to ingest information that would challenge their worldview.

UK is fucked, too. During/post COVID the Tories were doing messed up shit like setting up appointments for disabled people recieving benefits to prove they were disabled and still needed benefits. They would purposefully set the approval appointments somewhere physically difficult to access for a disabled person. If you showed up, you obviously weren’t disabled, because you managed to arrive despite obstacles, and you would be denied benefits. If you failed to show up, you were also denied benefits. It was built to just kick people off the fucking system en masse.

Which isn’t even as bad as that they tried to argue during the height of COVID that it was a waste of resources to save the lives of the developmentally disabled. Essentially, they just wanted to pull the plug on those people and give the ventilators to more “suitable” candidates. Fucking sickening.

Yet, somehow, (from what I understand, anyway) you’re allowed to make money from investments and other type of “non-worked” income while on SSDI. I’m pretty damn sure that $1500 limit is only for worked income. It’s almost like it’s tailor-made for rich people to be able to function on it (because they already had investments when they became disabled) and to just screw the living hell out of everyone else.

The entire disability system in the USA is built to hurt people, top to bottom. It forces people to live in perpetual poverty and often struggle to afford the help they need for their disabilities. They can’t get married without their benefits being cut, because now they have family who is expected to care for them.

This is just another symptom of a system designed to prevent as many people from collecting benefits as possible. If someone dies while waiting, that’s no money that needs to be paid out. It’s a “win” in terms of the budget, because it’s reducing costs by denying benefits.

The USA is truly run by fucking vultures, and while the Republican party is responsible for most of the horrific messes, there are a not-insignificant number of congresspeople who are “Democrats” but may as well be Republican, like Joe Manchin.

Like my life has been stolen from me. I am left with nothing.

Isn’t having cancer alone bad enough?

Uhhh. I still think that was US learning from Israel… Israel doing this shit ain’t new. Ask Rachel Corrie.

Well it’s a lot like all the ISPs taking fucktons of money over 25 years to “roll out fiber” and then just basically pocketing the money.

Corporations are the real welfare queens.