build_a_bear_group

All right-wing politics is projection.

TBH, not that surprising. I haven't watched her videos, but STEM faculty can be often be quite reactionary, especially in fields that are much more of a white boys club like physics. I have had numerous heated arguments with transphobes in my department and related departments and despite all this "universities are Marxist/Liberal bastions", even saying pronouns in introductions is a very unpopular thing with the faculty (students and staff less so). And this is despite my department having quite above average number of LGBTQ people in it.

This was so frustrating, because the centrist Lib IRL friends were all telling me that this shows how practical and effective Democrats were. Because, even without adopting radical and unelectable stances like Bernie, they are causing these great reductions in poverty. And we shouldn't worry about these built-in deadlines, because all entitlements and handouts are extremely hard to claw back like Social Security, because taking them away would be so unpopular with the voters that receive them. I told them that Democrats would claw everything back and find excuses for further austerity after they decide the pandemic was over, and everyone around me was angry that I would dare say that the Democrats weren't doing everything possible to improve the lives of all Americans to the limit of what Republicans could stop them.

The "all leftists are doomed to be Cassandras" effect is real.

I have a similar thing, and I have found that certain shoes with the right lacing pattern work well. Basically, buy something with a big toe-box, but most of the lacing concentrated on the center of the foot so that you can narrow it by lacing it tight. I find that certain Xero shoes, and most iterations of Merrell Trail Gloves work well for this.

IDK, I used to really recommend Red Wing, but I have been repeatedly told that over the last decade (I have had mine for, I think, 12 years, so not from first-hand experience) their quality has very consistently getting worse. So maybe some caution there.

No, ignoring the extremely limited efficacy and right-wing bias of electoralism, their entire point is just being the "Not Republican Party". As long as they can only offer that and nothing else, and still be electorally competitive, they never have to improve and will actively fight against improvement. Additionally, they actually do more to aid the Republicans and right-wing agenda as long as they are really ineffective and out-of-touch and in people's minds voting for them is the only real opposition the Republicans, while constantly capitulating to Republicans on issues like trans rights. But ultimately, this is why the Republicans are much more responsive to what their base wants, since even if they are reactionary, and can somewhat generate the culture war issues, they are the only party offering a positive agenda. (Positive in the sense of a politics of making changes and advancing agendas rather than just saying that the other party is worse. Not saying their agenda is good, obviously)

So, yes, there is some times, particularly on close elections or local elections where you can get improvement by voting Democrat over some Q-anon or MAGA psycho. But you also have to admit, especially with Federal elections, not voting for Democrats is not really making things worse or doing less "harm mitigation" than voting for a Biden, or whatever right-wing bigot the Democrats throw up next. Especially if, even on things like LGBTQ rights, they immediately capitulate and take the Republican position, just with more polite rhetoric.

You're right. They are more of the Uvalde Cops to the Republicans school shooter. Even when they nominally have power they wont even rhetorically fight back, let alone use that power, to defend LGBTQ people in any way.

So you think that rewarding the Democrats for having the only standard be "Our senile, racist, rapist, corrupt, reactionary war criminal doesn't have an orange spray tan" is going to "get the job done"? Or just the entire party being the polite, norms-respecting Republicans.

Putin fighting for Eastern Orthodoxy and upholding the Great Schism.

Yeah, we all know that real Communists have full beards. Marx, Engels, Castro, Che... I could go on.

Lenin had a goatee, so half credit.