Everything on that list is typical neoliberal Democrat tinkering around the edges while the world burns.

It’s not that the individual ideas are bad, it’s that they have no vision of a better future for most people. Where is Medicare For All? Where is tuition free college? Where is anything that isn’t just a bandaid for a specific paper cut when the whole goddam country is being devoured by fascists and corporations?

That’s the meat I’m talking about - something that millions of people on the left could vote for in self interest. What we got was meat for checks notes non-Medicare diabetics.

Israel is currently genociding Palestinians under a Democratic president, they didn’t need Trump’s approval for anything. The bulldozers are already running, the people are already having their lives destroyed.

Again, I voted Harris for harm reduction, so I see your point about Harris possibly being better for Gaza in the long run, but it’s not “kill my friends now” or “kill my friends later” it’s “kill my friends now” or “kill my friends now and maybe, just maybe, stop sometime around the midterms when it’s politically convenient and only if Harris doesn’t need to keep getting the fascist vote”. I don’t blame Gaza voters for looking at that choice and holding out for what they really want, which is “stop killing my friends now”.

Those Palestinians were going to lose their land, families and lives either way. Biden has done nothing to stop Israel, neither would Harris. She made it abundantly clear that “protecting” Israel was more important than stopping genocide.

Gaza didn’t cost Harris the election. Maybe Michigan, but even that’s a stretch. Democrats lost ground in literally every demographic other than 100k+ income because, again, they campaigned to the right and offered absolutely nothing to the left.

If Harris told any other assumed Democratic group to fuck off this hard, nobody would be surprised they didn’t vote for her. If she ran as pro-life to court Trumpers and her support from women collapsed we wouldn’t be screaming about them getting in line, we’d be talking about Harris betraying those voters. This is no different, it just affects a far smaller voting bloc that people feel comfortable scapegoating.

Everyone pointing at people that didn’t vote for Harris over Gaza like this is some gotcha moment are totally missing the point. If Gaza was your primary concern (like if you and your family are Palestinian perhaps) neither candidate was going to do anything for you at all. Harris paid a tiny bit of lip service to Gaza two days before the election after months of shutting down and ignoring everyone demanding ceasefire.

I voted Harris purely out of harm reduction, but she offered nothing to anyone on the left. The DNC assumes everyone that is queer or bipoc or a woman owes them their vote and then used the platform to court non-existent center right voters.

But nah, let’s pretend that Harris, who took Biden’s positions wholesale, would have done something different as if they weren’t currently in power. Let’s pretend they would have done something to restore abortion rights too, or tackle climate change or raise the minimum wage when they’re so busy trying to get fascist votes and not piss off the coporate donor class.

The Democratic party needs to be rebuilt from scratch or not rebuilt at all.

Yeah, but you see they were in danger from the Vietnam draft, doesn’t take empathy to act in self interest.

Just hold your ground and keep reading your book, eating alone etc. If someone enters personal territory, shut it down by being honest “I don’t want to talk about that” and move on. Resist peer pressure and be who you are, it’s the same as it was in school.

Also, talk to your coworkers (I know it’s hard) about whether they think it’s appropriate. You have an impression they’re on board with this level of “intimacy” but it’s possible they are just going along to get along.

If persisting doesn’t work then it’s probably time to find another job. Plenty of workplaces out there that just want you to do your job and no more.

HR is definitely not on your side either, unless you can point to specific violations of policy. They exist specifically to cover their own ass, not to actually make your life better.

I agree, as much as I hate Reddit’s leadership and a lot of the toxicity of the hivemind, it will be a long time before anything reaches the level of niche communities it has with a critical mass of users and I miss some of them.

Sometimes you just want to geek out about something small with the 40 people across the planet that actually care about it.

For Factorio, I think it’s a smaller window… before you have basic items (belts, power lines, solar etc.) automated. Bots are huge, but once you can extend your base/bus at will the game gets way less tedious.

Hunter Pence is a great example, but one of the things that’s great about baseball is that there is a place for every body type. If you’re in shape (and sometimes even if not) no matter where your athletic gifts are, you can imagine a role on a baseball team.

Bartolo Colon was my pick for OP. If he can be an in demand pitcher into his 40s, any body type can.