I break things. Then I put them back together. Then I break them again. Just to show I mean business.

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Joined 10 months ago
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Cake day: August 17th, 2023

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  • Like these for example:

    * Lowest unemployment numbers since 1969, economy seeing strong growth in GTP, wages, stock market returns, household net worth
    * Expanded overtime guarantees for millions
    * Established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention awarding $286 million towards student mental health
    * Made transition to green electricity a priority and accelerating approval of renewable energy projects
    * Sealed nationwide Infrastructure deal for $1.2 trillion for roads, waterlines, broadband networks, airports, et c
    * Opened for over-the-counter birth control pill (in stores in 2024)
    * Issued a sweeping crackdown on junk fees and overdraft charges from banks
    * Effected anti-redlining frameworks preventing discriminatory mortgage lending
    * Forced Chinese companies to open their books
    * Issued the Inflation Reduction Act, authorizing funds to jump-start the transition of American agriculture toward less carbon-intensive practices
    * Helped broker a deal to save the Colorado River
    * Signed an executive order directing agencies across the government to promote competition and take on monopolies
    * Loosened federal restrictions on cannabis
    * Instituted penalties for college programs that trap students in debt
    * Enacted the CHIPS and Science Act, offering more than $50 billion to subsidize construction of new microchip facilities in the U.S
    * Aligned U.S trade policy with antitrust actions against big tech firms
    * Brokered a deal to halt conflict between Rwanda and Congo to stall impending Cobalt crisis
    * Released a new national cyber strategy, strengthening international cyber diplomacy, securing emerging critical technologies and taking more aggressive steps to disrupt hacking groups
    * Countering China with a new alliance between Japan and South Korea
    * Reinvigorating cancer research to lower death rates
    * Making medication more accessible through telemedicine initiative
    * Installed union-friendly allies on the NLRB board who have adopted positions that boost workers in confrontations with businesses
    * Issued a national radio frequency spectrum strategy to fix 5G chaos
    * Empowered federal agencies to monitor AI
    * Strengthening military ties to Asian allies
    * Creating a new agency to investigate cyberattacks
    * Forcing airlines to pay up when flights are delayed or canceled
    * Expansion of Benefits and Services for Toxic Exposed Veterans
    * Stood up against Russian aggression by direct support for Ukraine
    * Protected marriage rights for LGBTQ couples
    * Historic student debt relief for middle-, working-class families
    * Implemented aggressive climate and environmental justice agenda
    * ...
    

    Sources: https://www.vox.com/politics/24094752/biden-trump-strong-economy-2024-inflation https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/02/joe-biden-30-policy-things-you-might-have-missed-00139046 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_policy_of_the_Joe_Biden_administration#:~:text=His Inflation Reduction Act was enacted in August 2022.&text=Biden’s first year in office,the pandemic recession of 2020. https://www.whitehouse.gov/therecord/ https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2021/politics/biden-executive-orders/












  • Compare how and why people cheer for sports teams. If you’re affiliated you will support any statement in favor of the team, while ignoring, suppressing, or attacking any statements to the contrary.

    You won’t debate a Trump troll out of supporting Trump, because it’s about belonging to a group and showing loyalty regardless of facts. Honestly I’m not surprised he’s doing so well, consider how techy most of us are and still get overwhelmed by what the Internet is shaping up to be. If you’re in your 50’s from a poor rural area, what chance have you got to stand against weaponized online propaganda?

    We are all like this, by the way. The inclination to blind affiliation with groups is the result of very deep, very old, very well studied cognitive structures and behaviors.

    Here’s some introductory reading that might fundamentally change how you perceive people’s participation in groups:

    https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/sociology/conformity
    Sherif’s autokinetic experiment - if enough people around you believe something, you’ll soon believe it too

    https://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html
    A similar experiment performed by Solomon Asch

    https://www.simplypsychology.org/robbers-cave.html
    The Robber’s Cave experiment - arbitrarily divide a group into two, and watch the inevitable descent into inter-group conflict (hopeful note: if you make the groups try to overcome a common obstacle, fighting goes away)

    Leon Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Tests - This is an interesting one as well, here’s the idea:

    Experiment: Infiltrating a doomsday cult before, during, and after the date of their supposed apocalypse, Festinger and his fellow scientists noted that instead of losing faith, members doubled-down on their beliefs after the ‘end times’ came and went — eventually believing that their work saved the world.

    Conclusion: When we have two (or more) incompatible thoughts, we adjust them to minimize internal conflict, what Festinger called ‘cognitive dissonance’ — a term that explains the mind state of those unwilling to accept information that conflicts against their belief.