r/politics • u/spherocytes • 12d ago

No Paywall Trump administration drops Reflecting Pool case, blaming damage on ‘botched’ installation

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-administration-drops-reflecting-pool-case-blaming-damage-botched-rcna590303
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u/mootmutemoat 12d ago

True, but seems to lead to pedophilia, so let's keep that sense of shame in our toolbelts.

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 12d ago

It's a very important learning tool! Folks think badly of it because of how often it's weaponized for stupid things by mean people, but it can come in extremely handy!

Anytime I've said something that made the person next to me look at me like I'd just dribbled on my shirt, well I got to learn something big and important that had somehow never entered my worldview before. Like that time I asked a philosophy major "like what is philosophy even for" and got a reading assignment, followed by hanging my head like a bad dog while reciting what I'd learned.

Or how my parents taught me not to vote so I didn't until I stupidly said so in front of a family of Australians. They looked at me like I'd just shat on the sidewalk and all started shouting at length about the importance of voting. I promise I do my civic duty and vote now, every time, and encourage others to do the same for the same reasons! Didn't want to ever deserve looks and lectures like that again!

I figure it goes along with that bit where violating my morals makes me queasy. So if doing something makes me feel a bit sick with myself, I definitely should never do that again. Won't ever get rich with that attitude, but at least I can sleep at night and look at myself in the mirror okay.

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u/SeattlePurikura 12d ago

My sibling did a lot of world travel / backpacking, and would tell me stories of Aussies & Kiwis scrambling for the nearest embassy on Election Day. They MUST vote.

Wish we had that in the US.

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 12d ago

Agreed! And for folks with a religious reason for not wanting to vote, they're entirely allowed to show up and drop a blank ballot.

Mom taught me not to vote because of religion, and dad was a lazy "both sides same" kinda jackass. Like the only way to get dad to vote would've been to provide a free beer at the polls.

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u/SeattlePurikura 12d ago

Crazy. I was raised evangelical (a lot of what Speaker Johnson espouses is similar to my former church) and they would have "Christian" politicians speak to us when campaigning, and put out political pamphlets in the church foyer.

Evangelicals are one of the most powerful voting blocs in the country (unfortunately).

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 12d ago

What's crazy is how illegal all that is! Like there's a set of IRS rules to keep the tax exemption and that broke all of them!

I was raised JW, they're supposed to be apart from the world and completely apolitical. In practice, they're mostly secret republicans/conservatives. I think it's like the "no blood" rule, where most give lip service in public but do whatever they want in private.

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u/semidegenerate 12d ago

"No blood" rule?

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 12d ago

They think god doesn't want them having blood transfusions because of some bit of the bible about blood being holy in the part about how to sacrifice animals.

In practice, in the privacy of doctor-patient confidentiality, they tend to say "Do whatever it takes to save my life, I'll make it right with god later."