sanity_is_maddening

I understand your anger. I really do. But may I remind you that the Republicans were the ones who took a stand to abolish slavery and even died for it not that long ago really. And look at where they are now.

It's people like this woman that are fencing any movement from turning corrupt and vile. Unfortunately all too often there's not enough of them to stop it from happening.

She most likely saw the cloth as a way to reach and help people in need. As it is one way of doing it. And given her very advanced age, when she was young, it was probably one of the very few that existed at her disposal. Especially as a woman.

And you shouldn't conflate the identity of individuals with the institutions they're a part of or with their social descriptors. That is precisely what you hate about these groups you brought up. So don't play for the opposite team and act the same way they do.

And by the way, you were downvoted but I wasn't one of the ones who did it. As I do think your anger towards these institutions is absolutely warranted and justified. I feel the same way. Just don't let that keep you from recognising a decent human being when it is very much the case. Otherwise, you allowed them to turn you into what we both hate about what these institutions represent.

This woman is on everyone's side because she's fighting for everyone. Even though I'm not religious, I recognise that I aspire to the same as her.

Oh, thank you so much. I wish I let myself believe that I am what you just described. You do seem to fit the description you assigned me very well from this very brief interaction.

Let us all keep spreading warm and fuzzy feels on and on to as many people as we can.

The world certainly needs an antidote to spread against the vile current that is dragging us all into a hole of despair.

We can't let them happen!

Unfortunately, I often do let myself go in that direction.

So thank you for pulling me the other way.

What a Fucking Legend!!! People such as her should be our icons. Not the plastic ridiculous people that the legacy media and the algorithimc social media keep pushing out like clowns to the circus floor to keep people distracted.

Sue Parfitt. Let's remember her name. In fact I'm gonna save this post.

And while I'm not one to support religion, between her and the reverend that gave that sermon to Trump's face in church, I would say "Lady Priests" (apologies for the reductionism) are having a moment and showing the cloth that apparently only the women in it seem to remember what "their calling" is supposed to be all about.

If anyone knows the name of the woman that gave that sermon, tag it under. Please.

It's not about supporting the church, it's about giving credit where credit is due.

In fact, we should start making a record of the people who are raising to the occasion these days all over the world, and taking the moral stand and give them the space and the limelight, instead of allowing everything to be about the shitty people doing their shitty deeds. That takes so much of the bandwith as it is, and makes us feel alone in the face of it all.

Be it about the atrocities being committed in Gaza, Ukraine, the U.S. or in any place where wrongful actions are occurring, let us make visible the people that raise to face it. Let us put forward the faces and voices of the ones who still truly give the word "humanity" some of its supposed meaning back.

PS: A lot of people here might not be able to read Spanish. But I do and I really liked the article you linked. It was a really nice complement to the one linked in the post. So, thank you for sharing it.

They want everyone's private data to be accessible and actionable. It's not even about avoiding the hassle. It's about you not being able to avoid them.

Now, think about how much they could use this to crush dissidence and prevent assemblies of protests or worse, jail people because they criticise the government.

I got nothing to hide. By today's standards. If it changes, and criticising my country's government becomes a legal offense, then I would be a criminal. So would most people I know.

This is about control. Surveillance is always about control. It's disguised as a necessity through the paranoia that those in power help veiling over us.

There's plenty of crisps and chips out there which might not labeled as vegan, but are still nonetheless made without animal products.

To me, it's salted dry fruits and nuts all the way in the situation you described. I do some farming and salted peanuts and toasted salted cashews are my favourites. Although cashews are quite on the nose more expensive, so I sprinkle them amongst the peanuts.

Pair me that with some lemonade in a thermos and I'm good to keep going.

I used to snack sandwiches, but that just made me feel like going to lie down after munching on them.

But like I said, there are chips too.

It always was. It's only sad that people are only realizing that now.

Politics is everything. It's where you live, what you eat, what music you listen to, what films you enjoy, what books you read, what you do for a living and what you do for fun, what you purchase and what you don't, what you can afford and what you can't, what you love and what you hate... everything. What people perceive politics to be is merely the organizational structure that stems from the true nature of what politics truly are. But that is nothing but the end product and the result of a battle for control that was fought to preserve the interests of a few in creating a resilient status quo that is in agreement with their view of the world, that containing also their interests.

The "Left" seeks to be an impediment of the consolidation of that power and desires to redistribute it, and the "Right" seeks to protect it and stave off anything that can reduce its control. If anyone didn't know this, then I suggest reading up on the French revolution and understand what these concepts really mean from when they emerged in the first place. For example, during the American civil war, the Republicans of the time were the "Left". Now, they're very much not, are they? Party positions might change, but the meaning of this concept doesn't.

As for me, I don't care much for reducing the spectrum of the entirety of societal's complexity to a binary stance. But if I were to use that redundancy, I would say my biggest problem is with the insurgency of the "Center" over time. That is where the most insidious part resides. Because if we truly take the left/right to its logical conclusion, the "Center" can never be occupied by someone dictating what it is. Because it has to be the space where the two ends meet/clash/struggle and unfortunately and stupidly also battle. The "Center" is the most opressive of the three in this silly spectrum. Because, it seeks to tell everyone else what the virtuous middle truly is. And this "Center" is what elites of European and North American countries have been using as a veil for the control of the status quo that benefits them. For quite a while. That illusion has now been shattered. For better or worse, only time will tell.

When war brews, is because an elite lost or is losing control of the status quo alignment to another power that seeks to take it.

The really sad part is that this is 2025 and people are still able to be convinced to go hurt people they don't know in behalf of people they never met. And never will.

I don't know how to find reasonings to excuse this anymore. To be fair I never did. But in a time when we have the capacity to go see the lives of anyone of almost anywhere in the world, it is far more outrageous to have to wittness it, or even worse, to endure it.

Turning on the heating during an heat wave??? What??? Did they throw some hot rocks and water on the floor of that bus and called it a "sauna on wheels service" while they were at it???

Also wow. And I thought that corruption here where I live in Portugal was bad. We do rank amongst the highest on corruption in the EU. And I bet these awful people take pride amongst themselves when looking at that ranking. May I ask what country is this going on? You don't have to answer if you don't feel comfortable doing so.

Definitely. Good isolation is paramount for both harsh winters or summers.

Thank you for being so considerate.

I live in the south of Portugal. In the Algarve to be more precise (lots of Americans started moving here since covid by the way). It's hot and humid because of the proximity with the ocean. Nights don't cool off when it's this bad and that is the shitty part.

I can't say that I'm not used to it. It happens every year. But I can't say that I've ever gotten used to it either.

It has gotten worse over the years, though. I'm entering my middle age now and when I was a kid the temperatures here would go up to maximum of 33 °C (91,4 °F), and now we get 40 °C (104 °F) and people think "it's just another one of those days". My girlfriend caught 43°C (109.4 °F) in the thermometer in her car this weekend.

Anyway, I use most of your suggestions every year, and they're all helpful to anyone who's not used to this kind of heat.

I would say my most unusual ones is to remain covered when I go outside, not only a hat, but long sleave overshirts and pants, both so that the sun doesn't directly hit my skin, which both dehidrates us faster and raises our core temperature as well. Then when I get to the shade or indoors, I remove the shirt and the hat and let the cooling begin. It's essentially the same idea that people did and still do traversing deserts. They're all wrapped up to preserve humidity and keep their bodies from heating in shade. This works much better in dry climate than humid, but still does work. It's not the most pleasant feeling though that's for sure. The other one that everybody thinks I'm nuts is to never shock my temperature with too much cooling. That means no cold beverages or ice-creams. Or cold showers. Why? While they provide relief, I find that my body then doesn't stop the craving effect, and it gets harder to sustain the periods in-between those "shock reliefs" as I call them.

But yeah, salty snacks and drinking water continuously rather than too much at once would be my top suggestions.

And keeping an eye on the elderly of our family and community too.

I've been barricated in my room with the Air Conditioning for as long as it is possible over the last few days.

And while it brings me some relief, it also burdens my conscience to know this relief is also contributing to the problem that makes seeking this relief necessary.

Just shoot me already.

Good to know that that's better now.

Thank you for answering my question.

It checks with everything else. I've never seen this level of overt neglect to public health from any government of any country in my lifetime.

From vaccines to healthcare research and healthcare access and even food inspection safety... from climate research, to weather monotoring to natural disaster prevention... they're readying a level of catastrophe that I can't even fathom what's to come.

I've already met a lot of terrified Americans who migrated to my country in Europe to avoid so much of this. I can already see a lot of more of them to come, and it frightens me the global health crisis that will erupt from it.

And by the way, isn't asbestos still legal to use in the US? I'm genuinely asking. I remembered being told so and was shocked that it still was. But that was a while ago.