FWIS3

I didn't even know this was a thing, though I probably should have figured:

"Visitors Paying Top Dollar for 'U.S. Election Tour' Are Disrupting Real Voter Turnout Efforts"
https://jezebel.com/visitors-paying-top ... 7918137090

The American election tour comes with a hefty price tag: £3950.00, or a little over $4,500. As their website makes clear, the company sees itself as providing an adventure experience, a way to parachute into some of the most turbulent, complex, and problematic political situations in the world. They boast about connecting clients with acolytes of the Ayatollah in Tehran, West Bank settlers and spy chiefs in Israel, and television propagandists in Russia.

This is absolutely wild to me, it's like something out of a fucking Iain Banks novel. I guess when we see everything in terms of money, of course someone will try to bottle and sell the experience of helping along a political crisis, but holy Moses this is fucked up.

It's also for pretty right wing groups from what I read. But yeah it's tough to explain unless you live abroad, but there's a surprising number of people out there who treat USA politics as sport.

Side note, while we're on the topic of the election, what a shit show it's going to be the next two years if there's a <10 seat majority for the Republicans. Just enough to cause one manufactured crisis after another, and enough to hope this or that might get passed, but I'm sure in most cases it's gonna be a mirage. Also, apparently Trump was planning to declare his run for the presidency next week; feels a bit awkward right now, and Desantis vs Trump is gonna make Game of Thrones seem tame (my Dutch friend who follows US politics as sport sure will have a field day!).

As of this writing though it's ~60 votes between Lauren Boebert and her opponent, which is just insane. Even if/when the Dems lose the House, if she loses I will have a drink just for that!

Hey at least we bought ourselves a bit more time before the country's inevitable collapse. And Massachusetts got its first woman and first openly gay governor! And Questions 1, 3, and 4 all passed IIRC!