Wish I could upvote twice!

90% seems low.

This is generally referred to as 50Gpbs. It’s impressive, but there’s no need to use inappropriate scales.

Not even about people who live in fixed housing.

Sadly, I don’t. Pass expired before biometrics became part of the process, necessitating the trip to Atlanta to get that squared away. That’s the only consulate that allows you to register that information in the states.

My U.S. passport is also expired, since I’ve not made enough money to take a vacation, let alone an international one, since 2007. I’m not too worried about deportation, as I’ve got the rest of my papers in order given what we’re facing. Police have tolerated me thus far in my spot, but I can’t rely on that being a constant.

I could see that being annoying. The lock on my van broke several months ago, so I don’t really like to leave it, since I can only lock the deadbolt from the inside. I can lock the door in the bulkhead, but everything next to that is built such that someone could easily get into the cargo area with a screwdriver. The illusion of safety.

Exactly. That we’re even having a discussion (as a country) about whether Nazi ideology is OK is an alarming development.

Seems minimal. I’ll have a better idea when the sun is up.

Oh, I was absolutely in the vehicle. I just didn’t want to die by doing anything about it. This is the state of Austin policing: No chance of justice, and you really don’t want to roll the dice with whoever has already chosen to attack you.

I mean, I’m a Swiss citizen, but my Pass is expired, and getting to Atlanta when I just lost my job covering federal grants for green energy for obvious reasons is … let’s just say this is a Schweinerei.

The state of my living situation is somewhat widely known, so I didn’t care to be redundant.

Cops have been useless for property crime in Austin for several years. There was no point in calling.

I also wasn’t getting out of the van while they were still around. What good is getting a license plate if it comes with a bullet? This is Texas, and they were already happy to risk damage to their vehicle by ramming into a stationary Class 5 commercial vehicle.

I have no fucking clue what this was all about. I was sitting in my van when I was suddenly hit. I wasn’t going to find out if asking would get me shot.

I own no property. They drove into my van roadside. And the road has extensive shoulders, so it’s about as good as I can get. I mean, being able to afford housing would have prevented this, but …

I’m homeless and live in a van.

Counterpoint: What’s the relevance of either of those questions for an election that happened three months ago? I don’t like relitigating unspooled events.

You’re welcome to your opinion that Biden or Harris would have been worse, but the facts don’t bear that out at all. I’m not mad at people; I’m somewhat surprised Pikachu that anyone thought this would not be the net result and vote accordingly.

Projecting your political beliefs and rationales on others is not Beeing Nice. Your takeaway is not at all what I said, no matter how much you’d like it to be.

With that sense of humour, I believe you’re qualified to work in a '90s newsroom. Be sure to let us know how that goes.

The Democratic Party failed with their lurch toward neoliberalism in the '90s in the face of Gingrich. NAFTA was virulently antilabour, and things didn’t get better from there, with the next domino being WTO shit.

I’m so fucking sick of people not understanding what the words they’re lobbing mean. Of course Palestinians are Semitic. Everyone in the Middle East with minor exceptions is. And having had Palestinian friends over the years, they aren’t against Israel existing as a concept; they’d just like some (proportion varies) of their land back and to be treated with dignity. I don’t see that as a huge ask.

I mean, that’s the conversation we need to be having as a country. Not to toot my own horn, but I warned about this in a column at the turn of the century that became known as my “Spam and kumquats” piece, arguing that if those are the only two things in the store, you’ll eventually think one is your favourite food.

I’m not here to defend the prior administration. I just find it almost comical that anyone thought Trump would be an improvement if not for the drastic outcomes we’re going to see. Bluntly, I think he wants the strip cleared out so that he and the Kushners can get some cheap real estate. The only thing that matters to him is self enrichment.

If you believe this is an improvement, that’s certainly your right, but I don’t see it.