I was already out of the country during… the last time bad event happened… and I decided to stick it out and build a new life and get a permanent residence in case things did not improve. And then they didn’t. I just managed to get my permanent residence right before… the current time bad event happened (2024).

The simplest thing I can say is, I don’t regret the decision. I gave up a lot on the journey to my new life, but what I gained is knowledge and understanding of just how much crap you don’t actually have to put up with… how much you SHOULDN’T have to put up with. Some things are worse, sure, but so much has been better for me as well… but one of the big problems I didn’t think about is, the survivor’s guilt is real. For what it’s worth, I don’t think in absolute terms there’s any shame in fleeing. A nation is a societal construct in the first place, and I don’t think you particularly owe anything to the nation you happen to be born in, especially one that shows such utter contempt for its citizens on a daily basis. But the people you know and care about… and the innocent people that don’t have the opportunity you do to do the same… leaving them there leaves a wound, even when you KNOW deep down there is very little you can do personally by virtue of suffering through it with them. I know ultimately, my being here means I no longer pay taxes to support a US government that does heinous things… I no longer work for a company that actively makes the world worse… and I still vote from here, still support those that I believe in to help see change in the system… and I use that as a salve, but the simple reality is I don’t get to be here with a clear conscience. It’s a weakness, and I feel selfish for the choice I made. I don’t know anything about you - perhaps none of this is an issue for you, and I’m not saying it should be, but if you know your own conscience to be prone to this kind of thinking, it is something you should also consider.

You misspelled “functional pattern recognition”

Supreme court reversal of this within a month.

Anybody who still thinks these judicial rulings from lower courts mean anything at all haven’t been paying attention at all for the last year.

Plato approves

It’s only celebration if it comes from Celebration, FL.

Otherwise it’s just sparkling grave dancing.

“I have decided to go to space and upload my consciousness into a blue alien furry and find a girl alien and we will kiss and it will be beautiful and deep and I am keeping all my Oscars.”

You might wind up in jail like Tommy Chong

I mean… I would expect most happy people don’t really fully appreciate it unless they consciously work on it… our brains are wired to notice pain - we adapt to comfort. It’s why people who already have the world still want MORE.

They’re shut down anyway.

Minnesota is in a critical cold snap that has shut down most businesses and schools for today. The timing for this shutdown could not be worse.

Also what’s it called when you consider asking others for help, but you watch everyone in your vicinity do everything in a way that’s completely the opposite of how you would, so you HAVE to do it yourself anyway, or else your OCD will cause you more stress than you’ve supposedly been relieved of?

It sure won’t be pretty. But peace without justice is not peace - it’s stagnation, and any society that accepts that is already dead.

It’s like stopping a fever… Sure, it looks fine at first… But the virus is running rampant and it WILL kill the patient. You have to let the fever go, and hope the patient outlasts the infection.

It’s also not helpful that this happens to coincide with an extreme cold snap that has shut down schools and businesses anyway. No way to tell the actual effect from the incidental effect due to the weather.

That is true, and I used “bank account” as a stand-in for what I really meant, which is “financial options”. By not spending money, you have the insulation of not panicking when expenses come up, you have more general leverage over your life, and you get the peace of mind that comes with it. Of course, there are better places to PUT it than a bank account.

It’s also a virtuous circle… if you don’t spend, you don’t have as much financial stress, which means you need less distraction to take the pressure off, which means you spend less money on things you don’t really want, which means you save more.

I beg to differ. Time is shaped like this:

You’re missing the fifth panel where it doesn’t bring the joy she thought it would even after she comes to terms with having spent the money.

It’s okay to spend money to be happy.

It’s also okay to sit there with a full bank account, reading a library book, and smiling about how the marketers didn’t get you this time.

Yeah! Boy, they should’ve appointed someone to do something about that, huh?

30 seconds? Are we being extra kind to ourselves today?