... Usage of TikTok and Instagram Reels is damaging cognitive performance ...

imo, TikTok usage can be considered an addiction.

It seems to be coming the new opiate for the masses.

@#10 ... Probably more like "trained". ...

Yeah, that is what it looks like.

@#11 ... Thiel hired Vance at his global investment firm in 2017, and then nurtured Vance's political rise, donating $15 million to his 2022 Ohio Senate campaign and helping him win a closely fought GOP primary before going on to capture the seat in the general election. ...

Does Mr Thiel live in Ohio? My guess is that he may be a resident of California.

So, then, why the interest then in a Mr Vance in Ohio? Unless Mr Thiel saw someone who could easily be motivated by money to obey ... ?

I wish I knew.

Sofas aside, there seems to be a lot of interaction between Mr Thiel, one of the founders of PayPal, and VP Vance.

Has VP Vance been purchased?

I readily admit, I am not a reggae fan. I dabble in listening to some reggae tunes from time to time, but it is not the main music genre I listen to.

But this song from Mr Cliff stands out for me.

I still remember it quite distinctly from back in the day...

@#2 ... They aren't turning against Trump so much, but Boomers in general. ...

Nah, they seem to be turning against Pres Trump.

Their opinion of Boomers may be little more than collateral damage, because Pres trump is who they elected. Not the Boomers.

Do try harder.

From the article ...

... In many ways, this battle is really an ideological struggle for the hearts and minds of young men -- a key demographic that swung hard for Trump in 2024, fueled by a potent mixture of political disillusionment and economic dissatisfaction.

Since then, these resentments appear to have metastasized, with manifestations ranging from simple frustration at Trump's broken promises to the embrace of antisemitic and racist views among young party operatives, and the elevation of extremists like Fuentes. Other members of this constituency appear to be swinging back toward Democrats. ...

More from the article ...

... Trump declared this month, "I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else." But there is a growing feeling that the movement itself is up for grabs. Multiple factions are all laying claim to Trump's mantle: America Firsters like Greene, groypers like Fuentes, and provocateurs like Carlson, to name just a few.

In many ways, this battle is really an ideological struggle for the hearts and minds of young men -- a key demographic that swung hard for Trump in 2024, fueled by a potent mixture of political disillusionment and economic dissatisfaction.

Since then, these resentments appear to have metastasized, with manifestations ranging from simple frustration at Trump's broken promises to the embrace of antisemitic and racist views among young party operatives, and the elevation of extremists like Fuentes. Other members of this constituency appear to be swinging back toward Democrats.

As my colleague Peter Hamby recently documented, in this month's elections, men under 30 broke for Dems by double digits in exit polls in Virginia (+14 for Abigail Spanberger), New Jersey (+10 for Mikie Sherrill), and, of course, New York City (+40 for Zohran Mamdani) and California (+52 for Prop 50). ...

@#16 ... The system being our two tier economy, where the top 20% of earners get 80% of the income. ...

Referred to as the "K economy" of late.

Pop that term into your search engine of choice.

And start another thread about it. :)

@#17 ... Congress could vote us benefits too.
They just don't.
That's "the system" MTG cashed in on. ...

Bingo!

@#15 ... Congress votes their own pay and benefits. ...

... and ...?

@#28 ... Did y'all see how Trump stole Mamdani's look for the cameras the next day? ...

I noticed.

It seemed to be quite odd.

And out of prior character.

@#19 ... If you don't know that, it's because you don't want to. ...

Intentional ignorance is a frightening thing.

@#12 ... after January 5th so she can collect a pension and lifetime medical care after only 5 years. Not exactly a principled resignation for her or anyone who waits to retire until they can cash in. ...

Bingo.

Yet another Republican cashing in on the system they want to deny for the working class.

... Over the weekend, Donald Trump amplified posts from pro-Trump X accounts that the platform identifies as operating from outside the United States. ...

Is he blissfully unaware of the source of those accounts, maybe because they say things he likes and they praise him?

Perhaps a song that Pres Trump likes?

@#24

The mystery deepens.

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of As The Drudge Turns ...

:)

@#8 ... He's praised single-payer systems in Canada and Scotland and said that Australia's government-run approach produces "better health care than we do." ...

Wait, what?

Pres Trump has praised single-payer healthcare systems?

@#6 ... Two weeks.

Just give him two weeks. ...

Found this ...

@#61 ... Even Trumpy got the point. Which is why he is furious. How dare anyone question the Kings authoritay!

The point is it as much is your responsibility and duty to Not follow illegal orders as it is to follow legal orders and to know the difference.

And you will not be protected from prosecution if you knowingly follow illegal orders when this hateful regime collapses as it eventually will.

"I was just following orders" is not an excuse. ...

@#8 ... Let's get to the real point.

Who in their right mind would agree to give Russia a permission slip to start World War III in Europe?"

Because that's what this so-called "deal"" amounts to ...

I agree.

@#4

A decade later, and he still has nothing to meet his promises?

... Trump Planned to Roll Out a Healthcare Plan ...

Candidate Trump on healthcare:

May 21, 2015
I'm not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid.

Sept 25, 2015
Everybody's got to be covered.

Feb 17, 2016
We're going to have great plans. They're going to be much less expensive and they're going to be much better.

Oct 25, 2016
You're going to have such great healthcare at a tiny fraction of the cost, and it is going to be so easy.

Nov 13, 2016
It will be better healthcare, much better for less money. Not a bad combination.

"We will immediately repeal and replace ObamaCare - and nobody can do that like me. We will save $'s and have much better healthcare!"
-- Trump tweet in February 2016

Pres-elect Trump on healthcare:

"We're going to have insurance for everybody ... There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can't pay for it, you don't get it. That's not going to happen with us."
-- Pres-elect Trump to the Washington Post in January 2017

Pres Trump on healthcare:

"Our healthcare plan will lower premiums & deductibles -- and be great healthcare!"
-- Trump tweet in May 2017

@#22 ... Mystery solved? ...

Solved? I'm not there yet.

But do I notice similarities in comments posted by some alias over the years?

Oh yeah.

From my days as a BBS sysop (decades ago), such was needed for the survival of the message board, and to prevent the trolls from taking over the board.

Which is why I often express my gratitude to RCade for not only providing this most august discussion site, but in the way he manages it. I know of no other site on the web like this one.

To be honest, I would not want the task nowadays of managing a site like this nowadays. For starters, way too many apparent foreign operatives.

@#76 ...The game is rigged in favor of the rich.
Republicans think it isn't rigged enough. ...

Another view on that ...

Maybe that is one of the reasons why Mayor-elect Mamdani won hugely on Election Day?

And now ...

@#76 ... The game is rigged in favor of the rich.
Republicans think it isn't rigged enough. ...

I agree.

Let me repeat your comment ...

The game is rigged in favor of the rich.
Republicans think it isn't rigged enough.

More from the cited article ...

... The complaint accused U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., of inappropriately questioning a government lawyer about his religious beliefs and of trying to embarrass the attorney with a rhetorical exercise during a February hearing.

In a Sept 29 order that wasn't made public until Monday, Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the complaint. Srinivasan said a motion for Reyes' recusal would have been the proper means for the Justice Department to contest her impartiality and seek her removal from the case.

The department didn't explicitly ask for Reyes' removal from the transgender troops' litigation. And it didn't file a petition for a review of the chief judge's order, which didn't reach any conclusions about the merits of the complaint's allegations.

"If a party that believes a judge's conduct in a case raises serious questions about her impartiality were to press its concerns in the ordinary way -- by seeking her recusal in the case itself -- the standards for resolving the matter are well established," Srinivasan wrote. ...

@#2 ... How obvious can it be? ...

It has been quite obvious.

I noted it back months ago when Pres Trump gave in to Pres Putin's demands, with nothing in return for those ~gifts~ that Pres Trump gave to Pres Putin.

That's not negotiating. That's not deal-making.

That is surrender, plain and simple, imo.

Back then I noted Pres Trump saying that Ukraine will never be able to join NATO.

To me, that, and that alone, was an indication that Pres Trump cares little about Ukraine sovereignty. That he just wants a deal, no matter what the longer term effect of that deal is upon the Ukrainian people and their country.

Pres Trump wants the transactional deal.

@#1 ... The agency says the activity it's seeing suggests an increasing focus on "high-value" individuals -- everyone from current and former senior government, military, and political officials ...

Does that mean, like the current Sec of Defense using Signal for group chats possibly containing classified information?

More from the article ...

... In an alert published Monday, the US government's cyber agency said it's tracking multiple miscreants that are using a mix of phishing, bogus QR codes, malicious app impersonation, and, in some cases, full-blown zero-click exploits to compromise messaging apps which most people assume are safe.

The agency says the activity it's seeing suggests an increasing focus on "high-value" individuals -- everyone from current and former senior government, military, and political officials to civil society groups across the US, the Middle East, and Europe. In many of the campaigns, attackers delivered spyware first and asked questions later, using the foothold to deploy more payloads and deepen their access. ...

@#2 ... Pete Hegseth prancing, preening, and yahooing about "masculine values" is just too Village People-ish funny. ...

Agreed.

Just look at his "performance" when he summoned America's top military officials back on September 30 to watch his prancing around on the stage.

Yeah, Pres Trump seems to pick admin officials because of their ability to look good on TV. But, I remain to be convinced that is a reason to choose the Sec of Defense for the Country.

The Sep 30 performance on stage seems to add gravity to my concern.