It doesn't look like the article you shared is including hostages who have since died. As far as I can tell, there are 59 confirmed dead hostages and Israeli intelligence expects the majority of the unreleased 48 to be dead as well. (Even if only 3 are, that would satisfy the headline.)

Including those (seems pretty weird to not include them) adds up to over 1,200.

Oh absolutely. I mean, some of their episodes from 20 years ago already feel like timeless classics. Just looked over the season 9 lineup, which somehow was 20 years ago. You've got Randy fighting Bat Dad in the Losing Edge, the Death of Eric Cartman, and Die Hippie Die. And, while the episode may not have been as great, the end of Willzyx absolutely slays me.

I totally get being too offended to enjoy it but I don't think it's particularly accurate to claim it only has a narrow audience, it is literally one of the most valuable franchises on television in part because it targets a large swathe in the middle. (Despite what the internet would have us believe, I think there is a large group of folks in the middle who can laugh at the craziness on both the Left and Right.)

I'm reminded of my mom's stance on rap and hip hop, which is essentially, it might be really good and a valid form of art but there's just too much vulgarity and misogyny for her to ever enjoy it, which is fair.

But, comedy is subjective. When I look back at the last few years, the specials over the last half decade, I come to quite the opposite conclusion, there are great episodes with an occasional dud but a hit ratio higher than most shows currently on air and a "oooh, that's an interesting take" miles beyond anything else.

I dunno, I'm torn. On the one hand, fair, trump's basically been doing whatever he wanted. But on the other hand, is that really accurate? How much power does a shutdown grant him to seriously cut back on things before the midterm results can hopefully constrain him?

And then the really icky politics, will this hurt dem voters enough to sit out midterms? If you lose your job because the democrats fought on this, sure you might have healthcare but people are really bad at keeping those hypothetical comparisons in mind at the ballot box (witness the rage at Biden for the inflation that ravaged the entire globe.)

But then to veer back to Jon's side, what's the alternative? Just give donald everything?

Shooting the rapids in a paddle boat sounds like a pretty good time!

That's cool!

I think in BC there used to be a few for some relatively small lakes.

After reading the article "OH! I guess at her mom's funeral wasn't the right spot."

You could listen to the teacher in the beginning. Or notice the constant jingoistic propaganda. Or watch any voice of reason be shouted down.

To each their own but especially these days, it's important to notice that the road to authoritarianism isn't a wild swerve from thr status quo but a slow, gradual drift.

Personally, I quite enjoy a movie that respects its audience enough to not have to have the bad guys murder babies for a reasonable viewer to catch on to the what's going on.

It was fine as a adumb tits n ass action movie when I was 12, realized "hey, this is an actual movie" in my 20s. And that's fine, if it is somehow too subtle for people, well, so is authoritarianism.

You might try piefed? It's a fediverse platform so still links/syncs etc with lemmy and everywhere else but the UI is nice and I think it does a lot of the stuff you mention (except for the ama style stuff.) I followed PugJesus here (and am using Piefed right now) and exported all my feeds etc so the switch was relatively painless.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions etc. I probably won't be able to help but uhhh, I'll commiserate?

Fall, and thus Halloween preparation, is ramping up!

On a more serious note, wildfire season is winding down.

For Canadian sports fans, the Blue Jays are thus far, crushing the Yankees. (And hockey season is finally back!)

Oh damn, this sounds amazing! A chance to live out my childhood dreams!

Just watched Yesavage strike out the side, what a beast!