Lurker > ElatedVenusaur

https://www.distractify.com/p/whole-foods-anti-racism-t-shirts
TL;DR - The company, along with its parent company, Amazon, recently expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement, but is punishing employees for wearing masks and shirts in support of the movement.
Even when the shirts quote the company's own public statement that is broadcasted in-store.

Guess they didn't get the memo about actions speaking louder than words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojw-iXAeWWg
Oh yes, and technically there's this! You couldn't actually hear it in DPP, but it was used in an event for HG/SS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi6WyRP6Cog
THIS cutscene, wherein Arceus straight-up CREATES your choice of a Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina.

Platinum is an easy contender for best individual pokemon game. They resolved the atrocious slowness of Diamond/Pearl, greatly expanded the selection of pokemon pre-national dex, improved and expanded on the already really good post-game area, improved the plot, and, oh yeah, they made the Distortion World, which is truly eerie.
Plus, Cynthia is easily the coolest champion.

I didn't play Emerald, so I can't comment, but the only pokemon games that felt as complete (to me) were ORAS(of course they didn't bring back soaring. In fact, I'm amazed they put in the effort to make it a thing at all!), because, again, it has a fairly extensive post-game. My one criticism is that Hoenn has a poor selection of wild pokemon naturally(comparable to Diamond/Pearl, even), which ORAS doesn't fix until just before the E4.

Let's get some more DPP music in here...

Canalave City(Night)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L9GDhoqhug

Sunnyshore City(Day)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJyd9VFVwP0

Distortion World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfMgKT_op9k

I have cool coworkers, particularly my lesbros. One of them got sent home for writing "Breonna Taylor" on her mask.

Antifar posted...

God bless. I don't begrudge Mexican workers getting paid more, and nor should you.

Its hilarious that Trump is so bad at protectionism he unintentionally improved the lot of Mexican auto workers. But also fantastic!

All the right 2-player zone themes were rescued: Mystic Cave 2-player was intended for Hidden Palace(the other track was apparently an earlier rendition) and Casino Night 2-player for Cyber City(the level map was used for Metropolis Act 3), IIRC.

Yeah, Charlize Theron seems really cool. She also apparently did her own stunts for Atomic Blonde and required extensive dental surgery.

Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

Holly Jolly Secrets Episode 2....

So, the Ice King was once a scientist/antiquarian, before the Mushroom War? Also, oddly, his fiancee kinda looks a BIT like Princess Bubblegum. He bought a crown from Scandanavia, and it basically gave him the secrets of the snow?

Also, the crown made him live forever and turned him insane. He basically begged for people to watch over him and forgive him if he did bad things. =(

Also, I'm pretty sure we saw the start of the Nuclear War in his video. A plane went by the window, then suddenly the weather changed to snow. Nuclear Winter.

Oh boy, that's kind of AT's Pandora's Box moment. It certainly blew my mind at the time!

I would respect him much more if he did. Still wouldn't vote for him though.

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/what-slave-fourth-july-frederick-douglass/
It's a long read, but it still resonates. And I hear this Frederick Douglass guy is being recognized more and more!

DoctorPiranha3 posted...

Florida State Seminoles, you're next!

FSU actually has the permission of the Seminoles to use their name and likeness, and has consulted with the tribe in the past on various issues.
The NHL's Chicago Blackhawks have a similar arrangement with the actual tribe.

That's a possible way forward for the the Cleveland Baseball Team: find a local tribe and work with them. That may not be feasible, but in that case, we can all root for them to become the Steamers.

RadiantAdolin posted...

Businesses are just going to kick them out regardless. ADA isn't going to help liars.

It's cute you think they'll kick out paying customers.
Because my Whole Foods sure doesn't! Source: I work there
They should though.

Drug_Smoker posted...

Women constantly got dudes creeping on them. Have to be careful.

It's this. As Margaret Atwood says (and Courtney Barnett sings): "Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them."

Estrogen does actually make a dick very different, because neither the hormones nor the penis know or care that dicks are supposed to be masculine.

People thought the 50s-70s Civil Rights Movement was only inflaming tensions and making things worse, an idea that is rightly ridiculed today. It will be the same with BLM. People think things are worse because BLM forces them to confront uncomfortable truths about society that they were either ignorant of or intentionally ignored.

Only the wealthy get adequate support(excessive support, really). The middle class has been squeezed harder and harder over the course of the past 40 years, and racialized attacks have been used to justify the shredding of our social safety net, making poverty increasingly hereditary.

masticatingman posted...

Really anything that is just blatantly historically inaccurate to pander to modern audiences.

This. History is often cooler(and crazier) than fiction.

Anteaterking posted...

This is mostly true in TV shows/movie series because they need to keep upping the stakes, but when there's a group behind the group behind the group behind the government where at some point it's like half the world have to be employed to keep this conspiracy going.

Orphan Black added so many layers to its conspiracy plot I assume it collapsed into a black hole though that was far from its only problem.
This happens a lot, because viewers/readers/whoever often develop their own answers as to what's going on, and writers feel the need to constantly one up themselves and keep the plot growing, so it quickly spirals out of control and becomes impossible to resolve in a reasonable, satisfying manner.

I'm not sure if the people who run The Lincoln Project are actually dumb enough to believe Putin is a communist, or if they don't think their boomer target audience will have the correct reaction without the clumsy Cold War call-back.

Tyrannosaurus posted...

These responses seem about right, and I dont disagree.

What about Obama? Would we be better having President Obama back? Id say yes, but would like to hear opinions.

All a president like Obama can do is kick the can down the road. And we're running out of road.

Man, you think the bubonic plague is jealous?

Bio1590 posted...

No that was Armenia

Whoops, you're right by, like..12 years or so.

Ethiopia was the first state to formally adopt Christianity as its official religion.

Bush and his administration were no less evil than Trump, they were just polite about it, which apparently makes all the difference to some.

I've never had real wasabi.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/real-wasabi
Horseradish is actually related to it, so it's a good substitute, but the flavor of Wasabia japonica is described as less intense and more complex. I would love to give it a try, but the real stuff apparently sells for $70+/lb. because it's such a pain in the ass to cultivate.

Remember how we had to nominate a moderate so Republicans couldn't accuse the Democratic candidate of wanting to go full Stalin?

I would vote for Joe Biden if he were even half as cool as Republicans make him out to be.
Hell, I would probably sign up for a Soros-funded, of course voter fraud bus and go vote for him a few more times!

CommonJoe posted...

Unions are a middle class thing. Us poors in service and retail industries generally dont get that particular luxury.

(Least not in the south. Cant speak for you yankees)

Some of the grocery stores up here have them(Stop&Shop and Shop Rite, for instance), but the national chains don't.
Whole Foods/Amazon recently issued a statement in support of BLM and claims racism has no place in their stores, but they've been actively punishing and even outright firing employees for wearing masks and other things expressing that sentiment(including a coworker of mine who is probably going to be fired tonight because she refuses to take off her BLM/"I Can't Breathe" mask. She's a badass, by the way). One of my coworkers saw a cashier at Stop&Shop wearing a similar mask. Leadership has stressed the need to wait for corporate to do something and that we need to let them speak for us.
Which is gross. Unions aren't perfect, but given store leadership is 100% white and the store is plurality black and Latinx, I would assume a union would push for a less restrictive and punitive policy even if it wasn't quite a GOOD policy.

ALIEN_WORK2HOP posted...

why is a new virus, which is passed really easily by common behavior and that we have no medication for spreading so easily?

I swear to god, the really dumb people in horror movies that die first, actually exist in huge numbers.

This doesn't explain why the United States is uniquely incapable of handling it.
This is going to need to be studied extensively, of course, but some thoughts:

1a) There's no federal coordination. In fact, President Trump attempted to downplay the seriousness of the virus in the early stages of the pandemic, but, indeed, most state governments were slow to act(for example, golden boy Andy Cuomo mocked the idea of a shutdown in early March, ironically when a shutdown could have saved his state) as well. Worse, Trump proceeded to fail to take sufficient measures to secure supplies for hospitals and politicized every aspect of the crisis, including mask-wearing!

1b) This pushed many Republican governors to downplay the crisis and avoid taking restrictive measures in a show of support for the President, which is now proving to have been a grave mistake.

2) The CDC screwed up its first COVID-19 test: it was contaminated with COVID-19, so it always produced a positive result. No attempt appears to have been made to contact health authorities in other countries with successful tests(or, for that matter, the WHO), and restrictive regulations made it virtually impossible for other public labs(let alone private ones) to make and test their own tests(and then submit them for approval, study, or production). The CDC and other health officials additionally implied that masks were not important, apparently in an attempt to prevent a run on N-95 masks that would exacerbate the existing shortage, but it turns out even simple cloth masks offer some protection. Purpose-built masks offer even better protection, and mask-wearing appears to be an important factor in preventing spread of the illness.

3a) The American health system is designed to maximize profits, and thus getting even basic healthcare is expensive. This makes Americans deeply reluctant to seek medical care(because it can be ruinously expensive even with good insurance), and that likely created fatal delays for many of the afflicted.

3b) The American social safety net is, generally speaking, thread-bare and terribly inadequate. Most Americans are utterly reliant on their jobs just to get by. This makes it impossible for many to miss work, even when they're sick. Given the lack of support from federal and state governments in terms of monetary payments or things such as rent relief/cancellation, etc. it was impossible for many to shelter in place.

4) Anti-intellectualism is rampant on the right, and combined with the President's encouragement, led to small but notable protests as well as many people just quietly flouting mask regulations(even here in CT, I know of some businesses that make no effort to enforce mask wearing, and this is a blue state with a Democratic tri-fecta). And, of course, even when people go out in areas where social distancing is easy(parks, beaches, etc.) they haven't always observed regulations, to our peril(that's as true here as anywhere). Regardless of political inclination.

Atralis posted...

Farrakhan as much as admitted the NOI did it in interviews after the fact.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/farrakhan-admission-on-malcolm-x/

Yeah, that's what doesn't square with the "CIA did it, Farrakhan had nothing to do with it!" angle. If he didn't do it, why did he eagerly create the impression that the NoI had something to do with it? Did he do it, or is he just a patsy for the CIA?
Or does he know it came from Elijah Muhammad and he's trying to cover for him?

EffectAndCause posted...

House did it right though, it had background season arcs. Like season 2 had the douchey hospital investor, season 3 had the obsessed cop, and things would happen with them around the main plot of the weekly sick person, instead of the other way around.

Yeah, House did a good job of building its plots so everything kind of felt natural.
It fell off hard after Season 6, of course, but outside Season 7 (pre-Masters) it never got bad. They even started subtly ribbing the fact that all the patients follow the same trajectory(that one Wilson-centric episode is hilarious, because there's a ridiculous House episode going on in the background.)
Plus, the chicken bet was amazing.

MabusIncarnate posted...

I was inspired to try something new and kind of expensive outside my norm, so I just went to the store and picked this stuff up, Dilirium Tremens. Thoughts TC?

That's really good stuff. You would be hard-pressed to find a better Belgian ale.

I am a stout man, myself. Though I do like porters, bocks, belgian ales(especially quadrupels), sours, and wheat beers.

The23rdMagus posted...

Or "I had power during this revolution - why should I, or my family/supporters/military, ever give it back to the people?"

Its not like Russia ever was or became democratic. The utter lack of social institutions means consolidating power is quick and relatively easy, and the pressure to do so in the face of a brutal civil war is great. At the time of the Russian revolution, the Paris Commune was the revolution everyone talked about, and they basically spent most of their brief existence hashing out a framework for government and holding elections. All their commitment to democracy got them was a visit from the freshly-consolidated forces of the 3rd Republic. There was a general feeling the Communards would have had better luck had they gone for the kill and hashed things out afterwards.

As for communism, there are a lot of different strains of communism, but 20th-century revolutions either intentionally patterned themselves after Russian Bolshevism/Stalinism or arose in areas without social institutions that could temper the impulse to consolidate power. Most on the left today consider those revolutions to be failures not worth replicating.

andel posted...

he does though

You realize we're discussing Joe Robinette Biden, former Obama VP and Senator from Delaware who criticized Ronald Reagan for being "soft on drugs", was a primary architect of bills which caused the ballooning of our prison population, the guy who never met a segregationist he didn't love, the man who viciously humiliated a rape survivor on national television to run interference for f***ing Clarence Thomas, was a primary architect of a bill that made it harder for individuals to declare bankruptcy(and impossible to discharge student loan debt at all), has long pushed for cuts to Social Security, has been a massive hawk for decades, including being the most prominent Democrat pushing for the war in Iraq, and was a gleeful participant in Obama's expansion of of border "security"?
That's the guy you think is the friend of anyone worth less than $1 million? Look, it's okay if you come to different conclusions, but you shouldn't hide from the reality of who Joe Biden is and what he represents and what his presidency could mean.

soulunison2 posted...

nah it was definitely a block party, most protests are happening in union square and stuff, not all the way up by spanish harlem

Plus, the protestors are usually good about wearing masks(at least until they get hit by tear gas).

https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/cost-of-healthcare-countries-ranked-2019-3
https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy
Hmm...

TopKekBro posted...

to minorities that is the alternative to, you know, A GUY WHO PRAISES SUPREMACISTS.

but I guess that is not a freak breaker for you

https://preview.tinyurl.com/y8we4dj6
Joe Biden giving a eulogy at Strom Thurmond's funeral.
I'm sorry, but I think you're overestimating how much daylight there is between Trump and Biden on this topic.

The truth is, Obama did nothing about police brutality(except proffer some lukewarm reforms and "beer summit", both of which did nothing) and so will Biden. Obama was the one who started putting kids in cages, (in order to convince Republicans he was serious about border security), and Biden will continue those policies. But he'll do them decorously, and maybe show some glimmer of humanity when something bad happens.
And you better hope Mitch McConnell loses in November, because...
https://theintercept.com/2019/06/24/joe-biden-tax-cuts-mitch-mconnell/
Joe Biden is a sucker. There's a real great chance 2024 will end up being a replay of 2016 you're so desperate to avoid.

B-Factor posted...

Staying home is an option.

So is simply not voting in the presidential election or voting third party.

Literally all Joe Biden wants to do is return us to 2016, but there are three major problems with that:
1) We literally can't. Trump happened and we have to deal with the fall-out, not pretend he was the only problem

2) Joe Biden is historically a huge friend of Republican politicians and was a major booster of the worst policies of the past half-century who still believes the Republican Party is fine

3) 2016 "normal" sucked for most people. In fact, it sucked so much enough of them decided to vote for Trump over the candidate who was telling them everything was fine.

Iodine posted...

People have the right to vote for whatever candidate they want for whatever reason they want.

Seriously, the idea that the Democratic Party is entitled to your votes is some quasi-feudal vassalage BS.
And works out about the same way as the real thing.

It wasn't bad. You've got Will Smith being pretty cool, Margot Robbie is a lot of fun, the Enchantress was cool and lots of the effects are well-done, but the entire plot is a dud and most of the fight scenes are lame. It also feels weirdly disjointed, almost like they tried to graft two different movies together which is kind of what happened! so it ends up being less than the sum of its parts.
Jared Leto Joker is thoroughly meh and had basically nothing to do with the movie, but was there anyway, for some reason.

I don't know why men or women should have to look this or that way.

Srk700 posted...

Trash. Which is still better than the horrendous one wr have now.

Yeah, Trump is a bottom 5 president, for sure. I don't think he's worse than Buchanan, but he's approaching Andrew territory.
The problem is that Biden is, like, a Benjamin Harris type who will probably be mostly a non-entity and at best restore us to 2016 levels of screwed(just in time for "Make America Great For Real This Time"!)

Jabodie posted...

How did AOC become a boogeyman for conservatives?

She's a young, charismatic Latina social democrat who is (somewhat) famous.

Below average to bad. Hell be one of those presidents people struggle to remember.