I think the reason it’s popular is because it’s “don’t tread on me” and not “don’t tread on us”.

Very true. I’m genuinely curious how many Trump voters didn’t find it likely enough last year to vote for him and only now do.

About 22% of all Americans (not just voters) voted for him in 2024. So there’s still millions of people who voted for him and believed he knew.

So common that Critical Success or Failure is literally mentioned in the 5e Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014), though more as an enhancer rather than automatic success/failure.

The example’s wording does imply that the roll result needs to be successful for the enhancer to apply. However, it literally states beforehand that it’s up to the DM how it manifests, and increase of impact is just a suggestion.

Personally, I prefer what the example in the DMG implies than automatic success. It depends on the campaign, but giving a wizard with 8 strength a 1/20 chance to lift a Sequoia log by themself is a bit much.

I recently had a layover in this region of Florida and, uh, wow there’s are lot of people like this these days. I’m not going to tell anyone what to do with their own body, but jeez. My flight had a lady who, beside her face, seemed to be 40s but the facial work made her look much older. Her partner was an old guy who seemed to be a month away from drooling into a cup, as she was doing literally everything for him including his seatbelt.

This is not a surprise if you actually talk to random voters, like while canvassing. People are just cynical about that government actually doing any of this, not if they are worth doing. If we can get a slate of progressives elected who truly accomplish some of these goals, that could start some real systemic change if properly communicated.

From an administration with low favorability ratings, two people with high unfavorability ratings. Foolproof plan. No notes!

That should only be required if what you’re trying to do would have a higher DC than you could possibly roll, but the DM humors you by allowing you to try convincing them anyway. Or that has been pre-agreed in session zero because the group is all theater/improv nerds or something.

Yeah, politics is literally at a basic level just the description of group decision making and distribution of power and resources. Good luck avoiding that in any system/story that is based around groups of players or has more than one NPC.

Americans are not practiced in large enough numbers in protest, demonstration, civil disobedience, and solidarity for a large scale general or rent strike to be successful. There needs to be a ramp up period with increasingly more frequent and expansive demonstrations for that to become practical.

Or that people who have the most wealth are more “productive”. I’m not sure inheriting millions of dollars makes you more productive than someone working two jobs.

Viruses and prions fall under the umbrella of germs/pathogens. They did not disprove germ theory. They still align with the idea that pathogens cause diseases. That’s still true.

Agreed. I didn’t hear much if any grumbling from the US conservative base in the decades before Roe was overturned toward their politicians, provided that politician opposed abortion. It was enough they believed the “correct” thing and did what they could within the restrictions of the law, until process aligned in their favor via convenient Supreme Court vacancies.

If you showed me this headline 10 years ago, I’d have guessed it was a mad lib. This timeline is crazy in a bad way.

Gotta give the oligarchy plausible deniability.

I have concerns about this section’s impact on open source AI work: CHAPTER 124—RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT THAT BENEFITS THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. It feels like this could be a tool to force AI research to be closed source in the US, since Chinese entities like anyone can benefit from open source efforts.

“Malakas” should work.

It’s crazy. He was already tied for sixth most SC justices appointed (with seven other presidents). If Alito and Thomas retire and he replaces them, he’ll only be behind Washington, FDR, and Taft. His numbers for other judicial appointments were already very high as well.

People really do not appreciate how long we’ll be feeling the consequences of this if we survive this term and move on to someone sane.

Indeed. I think it’s why cults of personality are so dangerous. You don’t need to convince that many people if you can get a large enough, dedicated number to consistently do what the leader says and push others around.

I’m not sure that love is the word for Bernie, but I was certainly much more enthusiastic about him. Some people did get weird about it which made me uncomfortable, though. The policy should always come before the politician.

I think the problem is that plenty of people might like Harris, but not so much that turnout for her matched Biden. The people who like Trump love him, and they turned out in the same numbers as 2020 basically. He didn’t need to meaningfully grow his base if people weren’t motivated to show up for his opponent.

It’s definitely a demonstration that having the most palatable candidate doesn’t matter. It might if voting were compulsory, but it isn’t.