The thing is, I think with just a tiny shift in perspective, that part of the song becomes about food deserts, and how social programs are often designed to keep people in the system, not help them get out of it.

If you’re interested in what this guy is actually saying, vs. what people say that he’s saying, there are a pair of fascinating videos on his channel from before and after the song went viral.

A couple of thoughts I’ve had:

• He is smart AF. This guy isn’t a dumb bigot hopped up on MAGA propaganda. He may have partway fallen for some of it, but that’s why they spend billions of dollars on propaganda: it works.
• The pain and disillusionment he’s making music about are real. It’s stuff that’s happening to him and his loved ones. He’s not a rich, made-for-Nashville country music star.
• He’s definitely absorbed some conservative propaganda, but he also sees through a lot of their BS.
  • He goes into the “wellfare” line a bit, and for him it’s about the cycle of government dependence and how people feel trapped by some social programs. I think with a little more perspective he’d be singing about food deserts and how hard it is to eat fresh vegetables when your grocery store is a dollar tree.
  • There was a line about “normalizing pedophilia” which makes me think he’s fallen for some of the anti-lgbt+ propaganda from the GOP. I really hope that’s not the case.
• He definitely says the people on the GOP primary stage were who he was singing about in the song, not “populist saviors”.
• I think he’s halfway to realizing that it’s not really a culture war. It’s a class war, and people like him are losing.

When you’re too racist even for black Republicans, you know you screwed up.

I ended up being ok with the weirdly retconned Klingons - after all, Next Generation “butchered” the Klingons from TOS. The thing that kept me with Disco until season 4 was Michelle Yeoh’s character, because I fucking love her. That said, it does not really get much better than S1, and I gave up after S3.

…this little bit of cooperation between the Federation and the Orions probably improves their relationship a bit, which will eventually lead to Orions joining the Federation, which is how Tendi is friends with Boimler in the first place, which is how Boimler knows that not all Orions are pirates which is why Pike tones down his hostile response which gets them to a deal with the Orions which leads to…

OMG! They managed to make that scene just so hilarious and poignant at the same time. Watching her facial expressions as she realizes what Boimler is telling her made me want to just scream at him to shut the fuck up and slap the shit out of him…but he’s just being dear sweet clueless Boimey. :(

Theme-wise, I think they’re setting up a comparison between Pike knowing his doom and Christine/Spock knowing their relationship is doomed. Knowing that, what do you do in the meantime?

Yes! Boimler is a great example of an ally here - he tells Pike, who he spends all episode worshiping, directly and politely that his bias against Orions is wrong.

I’m still giddy about this episode. Possibly the best thing I’ve ever seen.

One thing I noticed particularly in this episode is how respectful both SNW and LD are of canon and fandom in general - the bit about not all Orions being pirates, for example. I know it originates w/Tendi from Lower Decks, but just in the context of this episode they take the one-dimensional nature of the Orions from TOS, poke a little fun at it, but then make it about the bias that the Federation/Star Fleet has against a culture they really don’t understand. The SNW writers effortlessly take what could be considered a flaw or one-dimensional writing from TOS and actually use it to flesh out the ST universe, all while telling a great story.

People on the “right” are vastly more accepting of authority than people on the left. For example, the people who didn’t wear masks were willing to die because Tucker (or whichever right-wing shitgoblin they listen to) told them to. It wasn’t some sort of anti-authoritarian expression, it was pure authoritarianism.

Republicans do not care what people like you think, because you are “socialists” trying to “destroy America”.

Biden says he is pro union but time and again backs management over labor.

I disagree, I think Biden has been the most pro-union and pro-labor President in my lifetime, by far. That article is a year out of date, and the Biden admin has kept it up since then. If they’d gotten BBB passed, we’d be in New Deal 2.0 territory. And that’s in two years.

I disagree. I don’t think Biden is cordial at all, I think he’s realistic and knows how to get stuff done. Look at the debt ceiling negotiations - Biden wasn’t cordial to McCarthy. He knew the GOP had the leverage to get something out of it, and negotiated with them to make sure they got the least he could manage. He said he would work with them, but he called McCarthy and the rest of them out on their BS multiple times. O’Bama on the other hand, I thought let the GOP get away with way too much, and was way too conciliatory to them. At the time it was debatably the right strategy, but we see how it played out in hindsight.

The democrats have had 15 years to get ANYTHING done on guns, climate change, health care, and student loans and they didn’t do jack shit.

If you ignore everything the Democrats have in fact done on those topics, then sure, they haven’t gotten ANYTHING done.

Hey now! As the headline says, the layoffs were painful. Those execs deserve some compensation for all their pain!

Do you mean Trump, or Bible-thumping Republicans in general?

OK, can someone help me out? I had major deja-vu with the scene where Spock tells Ortegas she can’t go on the field trip away mission. Wasn’t there another episode where Ortegas was about to get to go on an away mission and got told she couldn’t at the last minute? Or did I maybe see that scene in a preview or something?

Prune juice. Just be sure to clear your calendar and plan to spend the next couple of hours near a clean bathroom.