MountingSuspicion

I commented elsewhere in this thread, but I'm sad to report that the dem ones are not good either. They're probably not as bad as the Trump ones, but the message is still gross and I received one from a dem org that had me looking up the owners and donors because it looked like a right wing scare tactic to me.

Just because information is public doesn't mean using it is a good strategy. I think this was a bad choice for dems.

Edit because apparently people don't believe me. Googling "DNC mailers voter information" and I was able to pull up plenty of articles, though I do not have the letter I personally received. Please note that I know they are not from the DNC, I was just looking for generic words that google would associate with dems.

https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/why-you-keep-getting-those-creepy-mailers-about-your-neighbors-voting-habits/

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/10/31/maryland-ag-nonprofit-sending-voter-report-card-election-mailers/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/voter-report-card-mailings-described-as-creepy-and-insulting-defended-as-effective-tool/

The second article (mentioning that they received a cease and desist for what the state deemed intimidation) says "The groups described themselves as nonpartisan, though their founder, Page Gardner, and CEO, Tom Lopach, are both former Democratic strategists."

Don't wanna doxx myself because the mailers are all region specific, but I can assure you they are coming from dems too. I'm a dem voter and I got one and googled it. I even looked at the org that's behind it and the CEO was openly a dem and the employees donated to left wing candidates and the org comes up as left wing when I looked into it. I called them to say that this seems like a right wing scare tactic so I was surprised to see it used on a left of center orgs mailers. Obviously there is nothing the rep could do, but hopefully if enough people call in they will change this. I'm still concerned that this left wing org is somehow secretly right wing because the mailer rubbed me the wrong way so much.

Edit because apparently people don't believe me. Googling "DNC mailers voter information" and I was able to pull up plenty of articles, though I do not have the letter I personally received. Please note that I know they are not from the DNC, I was just looking for generic words that google would associate with dems. For transparency, I very slightly edited my original comment for brevity/clarity.

https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/why-you-keep-getting-those-creepy-mailers-about-your-neighbors-voting-habits/

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/10/31/maryland-ag-nonprofit-sending-voter-report-card-election-mailers/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/voter-report-card-mailings-described-as-creepy-and-insulting-defended-as-effective-tool/

The second article (mentioning that they received a cease and desist for what the state deemed intimidation) says "The groups described themselves as nonpartisan, though their founder, Page Gardner, and CEO, Tom Lopach, are both former Democratic strategists."

Puréed potatoes and they're good actually, so you're just making their point. 🥔

Thank you for compiling this so neatly. It's nice to have this all together.

He literally says "How can you wish a company to fail simply because they do not cater to you or that the product does not please you is beyond me." I'm not saying he never mentioned employees or hate towards them, but his statement definitely comes off as purposefully misleading. Is there hate on the internet? Yes. People are sometimes hateful, but he even mentioned it being a vocal minority. To post something like this while there's active backlash against the company and their games when he admitted to not posting much makes his intentions pretty clear. The majority of the "hate" is towards the company not the employees, but by being a concern troll he gets to lump in valid criticism of the company with a minority of people being hateful to the employees (some of which are directly responsible for the bad decisions of the company btw).

Maybe you disagree, but bad companies deserve to fail, and people responsible for harmful decisions the company makes should be held accountable. I think it's ok for people to say that. I don't want anyone anywhere to be treated poorly, but he seems to care more about the hate hurting their bottom line than actually hurting the people there. His statement would have read very differently otherwise.

"I understand if you are upset with decisions made by companies, including ours, but please do not direct hate towards individuals trying to do their jobs. If you take issue with the behavior of an individual, you should be able to express that while still respecting the person." Or something like that.

Although I was unable to access the full article, the framing from the abstract seems to be: "Which is less human?" Followed be two pictures of cyclists. The question frames dehumanization as a given. I do not specialize in crafting these kinds of surveys, but it seems like "people dehumanize cyclists" is a weird conclusion to draw. I don't know what the pictures were or if they were in color or silhouette, but I can imagine people are not used to seeing cyclists in safety vests and therefore it's rated as least human, because it's the least often seen kind of person riding a bike (at least in my experience). Just a friendly reminder to always look at the source, especially if it's so easily accessed, since the commenter above was kind enough to link directly.

I don't believe I've ever spoken about this online before, but I was in a similar situation and was in solo therapy attempting to process the trauma and my therapist legitimately told me that the reason it's still traumatic is because I was unwilling to forgive the perpetrators. I knew they were religious before this, but I thought it had never really affected the sessions, until I realized the sessions hadn't been helpful because he viewed me as the issue. My unwillingness to forgive. I tried to get a better understanding of what that meant and it was just circular. I found a new therapist shortly thereafter, but the interaction really made clear how bad some therapists are. I had a string of not helpful therapists and I just kinda gave up, but I hope people know they don't have to put up with that. There are better options.

I'm queer and basically a gender abolitionist so I am not disagreeing about the social nature of gender, but I think phrases like that are pretty reductive and depending on the context in which you hear it. You can think of just as many supporting examples as contradicting ones. Though, in my opinion we really don't need to "show" that gender is a social construct, for many reasons, but mostly because so many people don't care, and they think social constructs are good, actually.

My reading comprehension apparently isn't what it used to be. Thank you for highlighting that.

Tax credits are nice, but are least likely to help people in poverty. A lot of them can't wait to claim the credit and if it's not refundable it may not help them at all.

The IOC stopped accepting IBA decisions like this because they are a corrupt organization. The IBA never provided that information and we don't have confirmation of that, but by disqualifying her, a title was restored to a Russian athlete and they had made Russia's gas company a main sponsor of the IBA. I'm not saying I know anyone's chromosomal makeup, but I wish people would stop stating it as a fact. She could have it or not, but we do not know.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/paris-2024-summer-olympics/olympics-boxing-imane-khalif-xy-chromosome-italian-boxer-quit/5662035/

Before anyone claims Russophobia or whatever, not all Russian organizations or people are corrupt, but it's well agreed that it was a poorly run organization with a lot of problems. For what it's worth I'd be suspect of any country in that position. Sports are a big point of national pride and monetary gain, and people should be wary of any decisions affecting pride or money, regardless of the circumstances.

Yea, the art is great and along with the text really helps build the world. I have rarely seen an rpgs rules support the setting so well.

DIE was great. I haven't read it, but I have played it. I feel hesitant recommending it because the experience seems heavily variable depending on GM, but it was definitely one of my personal favorites.

ETA: pg 10-11 of the wildsea book has a layer breakdown of the sea and it's my favorite part of the whole book. Maybe I'm just a sucker for any science textbook adjacent art, but it does such a great job of immersing you (imho). I think they should make posters of it and have it a bit more prominent in their marketing, but it's possible I'm off base. I feel like you can use interesting races in lots of different settings, but the sea is so integral to the game, it should be one of the big draws for players.