Combine the corporatized nomination process with the scare tactic of anyone not firmly aligned with business interests being unelectable due to some *ism used as a bugaboo, and it's nearly impossible to get someone over the line. Hell, the Democratic party will outright prevent primary procedure if they decide the votes aren't going the way the establishment players want.

What's sad is that even if the Democrats get as much power as possible, they'll use it to piss themselves into doing nothing in the name of healing the country or some bullshit. And with no consequences, it'll just be one more election before the pendulum swings back this direction. We need consequences for the outright lawbreaking, constitution ignoring ignoramuses in charge now, but I don't see it happening with our current round of available politicians.

Starbucks doesn't overcook. They just start with charcoal. I sense zero coffee beans in any of their products when I'm forced to drink it because someone thought they were being helpful by buying us all Starbucks bilgewater.

It's more than just beans though. You can buy the nicest beans in the world, but if you grind them wrong for your brew method, leave too many fines in the brewer, allow it to steep too long, or too short, over extract, under extract, etc. There's a million ways to make coffee taste like complete shit, and very few ways to get it to taste good on its own. Most people aren't going to take the time to learn how to do it right, they'll just toss in some sugar and cream and go.

This message brought to you buy a guy who has experimented with water type, water additives, blackwater extract, cold brew, pour over, drip maker, percolator, moka pot, hand grinders, electric grinders, burr grinders, various temperature brew-points, steel mesh filters, various types of paper filters ..........

We don't have a parliament. We have a congress. That has worked tirelessly over the last fifty plus years to prove that they are so ineffective at doing anything at all that it's just easier to go around them and wait for the courts to step in to decide if it's OK after the fact. And once that started happening, the courts were subverted by the guys with the jackboots so that they didn't make "the wrong decisions," so, essentially, thuggish government officials have no checks and balances.

The current federal excuse is that anyone that disagrees with the authorities on any level is to be labeled a terrorist. I'm assuming once these start mowing people down, all of those people will be labeled terrorists too. It does tend to shut down the critical thinking of anyone who might otherwise protest, with the added benefit that protesters are now also seen as domestic terrorists. HOORAY! WE'RE FINALLY ALL TERRORISTS!

Hey! We can solve our problems, or we can make more profit. Guess which is more important?

I've honestly taken to purchasing extras of my physical players once I know they are quality and stashing the spare in a cool, dry place. Most of these last me a good long time, and there's no reason at all that one stored properly will break just sitting there. Don't ever attach them to the network, so they can't get over-the-wire update that intentionally break compatibility with various formats, and you should be set for at least a couple decades or more.

Have you not seen a hearing aid and the batteries they take in thirty years? Those things have been impossibly small for the last decade and a half.

Now you've done it. Expect a lot of responses from morons that think you need to swim with AirPods in, and that gaskets can't be made small.

But Jayden Smith paid good money to be linked to metal listeners. Why won't you think of the marketing payments?

And how will allowing even more of the media to be owned by a single business help that? Honestly, this feels like clearing the way to make sure only the "correct" message is allowed out on mass media. And we all know that means more alternative facts and less actual reality.

More likely? They were probably thinking that if there is no screen, there will never, *EVER* be a reason anyone would want to shut off the microphone. And if the microphone is always on, it's a constant and continuous data collector for every home. And you can never supply enough data to these stalkerish creepy businesses.

Marketing and C-suites that haven't touched grass in two generations wanting to dictate reality to the masses. That's what happened.

Reality can't be easily controlled. But? If they can make everyone else believe their surreality, then they can control the narrative, and easily quantify and containerize every single human into pretty little marketing boxes.