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(via 'I don’t know what to tell you, boo': Michael Steele ridicules suckered MAGA fans - Alternet.org)

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Georges Fouquet, “Maple Fruits”, Pendant, 1906

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This sky orb is not an edit, it’s the clearest picture of VENUS ! The Venus planet (infrared) looks like a chaotic dawn or sunset sky. Images: July 2024, Japanese Akatsuki space probe (for real, not from Naruto: Akatsuki means “DAWN”).

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How many people work for the US federal government?

by USAFacts/reddit

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Wally Santana | AP

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Cathead

The end of the stout timber projecting out from her bow is decorated with a carved and gilded crown. The cathead was often carved with a cat or lion’s head, which presumably frightened away wharf rats. As the massive iron anchor is brought up from the bottom and gets closer to the hull, there is the danger that the flukes could damage the hull, especially in rough waters. The cathead allows this operation to be carried out a short distance away from the hull.

Cathead of HMS Surprise (x)

A special tackle is fastened to the ring of the anchor and it is fished and catted (brought up and secured) in its riding position on the bow.

The black loop of rope that holds the anchor to the cathead is the “stopper”. This could simply be cut through to drop the anchor. The main anchor cable is bent onto the ring. The ring itself has been wrapped in cord as an anti- chafing measure called “puddening”.

A second ‘cat head’ was connected to a ship's anchor cable and windlass. This was a square pin that was inserted into one of the hand spike holes of a ship's windlass. When the ship was at anchor, the anchor rope (also known as a cable or catfall) was attached to it with a smaller rope, known as a seizing. The English name for this bolt was ‘Norman’. In German, however, it was called a ‘Kattenkopf’, and in this case this is a reference to the traditional way in which the tip was notched and bevelled so that it resembled the ears of a cat in cross-section.

According to ‘The Sea-mans Dictionary : or, an exposition and demonstration of all the parts and things belonging to a shippe’ compiled by Sir Henry Mainwaring, 1623 , the term was already in use at the time the book was published.

Sailing Ships, by Edward K. Chatterton, 2013

Sailing Ships of War, 1400-1860, by Frank Howard 1979

Ashore and Afloat: The British Navy and the Halifax Naval Yard Before 1820, by Julian Gwyn, 2004

Marine Encyclopaedic Dictionary, by Eric Sullivan, 2020

Young Sailor's Assistant in Practical Seamanship, by Emory H. Taunt, 1883

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Brilliant idea

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You know, it's probably time to admit that the most pathetic people in America are the conservatives. Not the MAGA people, they know what's going on, and not the people on the left, they've figured things out too. Heck, even the racists and white nationalists know what's going on, but not the staid conservative, he's a confused as can be.

Everyone else has figured out what Elon Musk's gesture at the inauguration was. Democrats and Neo-Nazis alike know what it was they saw, but conservatives remain confused as to the actual meaning of one of the most (in)famous gestures in history.

They're equally confused as to why President Trump would pardon January 6th insurrectionists who were convicted of violence. Liberals, progressives, the MAGA faithful, and virulent racists alike have all come to the same conclusion, but conservatives remain confused and unsure of why he would do that.

They don't know why racists like the KKK and white supremacists like the Aryan Nations are celebrating Trump's win either. The racists know, even the left knows, but the conservative remains as confused as ever.

Of course, if conservatives were just confused, that would be one thing, but their truly pathetic nature is in how committed they are to avoiding anything that might ease their confusion.

I mean, do they demand that Elon Musk explain what his gesture was? Do they demand that President Trump tell them why he pardoned violent rioters? Neither of them have publicly said wheat or why. Do they seek to learn why racists celebrate his election? They're not shy about their reasons.

It's one thing to be confused about important issues, it's another thing to deliberately maintain your own ignorance and confusion. None of these are unanswerable questions, they just refuse to find the answers.

"Why?", you may ask? Well, the answer is quite simple. Conservatives are loyal to the economic principles of Ronald Reagan; deregulation and tax cuts. After 45 years, it's become apparent to anyone who wants to see it that this agenda leads to massive income inequality and the slowing of our consumer-driven economy.

The only way to maintain power with that agenda has been to ally with increasingly unsavory partners while ignoring the evidence of the true effects of those policies. Conservatives are confused because being confused is the only way they can keep being conservatives.

If they dared answer the questions, questions which every other part of the political spectrum can answer with ease (and with the same answer, no less!), they would be forced to either abandon their political agenda or to admit to themselves that they do not hold the moral code they claim to hold.

Being confused is the only way to avoid resolving the cognitive dissonance between their view of themselves and the reality of what they have become, I can think of few things more genuinely pathetic than that.