Had to look it up for curiosity’s sake.

In order to get fully set up, you will need to pay a $100.00 fee for each product you wish to distribute on Steam (the “Steam Direct Fee”)… This fee is not refundable, but will be recoupable in the payment made after your product has at least $1,000.00 Adjusted Gross Revenue for Steam Store and in-app purchases. Steamworks Partner Program

While not free, seems to be no overhead for the length of stay on Steam that I can see. Another site includes some more description which might add to the cost though

The cost to put a game on Steam depends on the type of game, the development budget [1], and the business model. To get a game onto Steam, developers need to pay a one-time registration fee of $100. After that, they will need to pay a 30% royalty fee. Additionally, developers may need to pay for marketing and other costs associated with the release of their game. source

Regardless, it’s just another unfortunate case of physical copies/backups>subscriptions or “licensing/rent” deals.

That’s, an interesting website. The name was a red flag for me, the article format is excellent though and I wish more websites would adopt this style of presenting information. I’ve gone through about 10 articles from what seems to be the main active author (David Demos), very neutral and non-descriptive language being used throughout. The premise of the site is using fertility and population reproductive stats coupled with policies to distinguish social-economical standings and impactful progressive legislature. It’s definitely a niche view and I believe leaves out nuances that are important for determining “quality” of a society, but I agree that better child/elder care services, paid leave, eliminating gender pay gap, reproductive assistance, etc can be good indicators of economical advancements.

I just keep wondering though if there is a dog whistle I’m missing out on. They’re very careful with not defining “family unit” (from what I’ve seen), as some conservatives and religious organizations don’t recognize all the various types. If I’m not mistaken, a lot of the policies they’re advocating as positive includes all family types including non-child ones (such as prolonging lifespan, elder care like mentioned before, etc). It would be fascinating to see an exit poll style survey from different demographics and what they personally interpret from the articles though. I guess “bravo”? would be in order for the site, these types of subject matter can boil down to polarization in a heart beat but they’re walking the tight rope well.

As for the article itself, it’s refreshing to see Michigan using policies from a fellow state that has proven and verified net positives they can correctly point towards when bad actors try to claim “whataboutism”. If you haven’t checked out the article I would highly suggest it as it’s basically already a TL;DR and anything else I can say about it is probably more condensed in the actual writing than what I could spell out here.

Could you provide me with some sources for context on the statements you have made?

the red wave didn’t happen because a bunch of Republicans died from COVID and youth voters mobilized in big numbers

Biden has made some moves to help progressive causes, and there has been a lot of success on local and state levels

the old guard is shuffling off slowly but surely

I am not disputing your claims, I purely wish to be able to absorb the information you have presented with fact checked sources to confirm the viewpoint so that I can better my stance on the current state of politics.

1. those of us paying attention, and have a basic grasp on history, know
2. incredibly ignorant and short-sighted
3. isn’t a fucking game, and it’s not a joke
4. throwing away votes on Cornell fucking West
5. get with reality
6. take responsibility for ushering in the end of our Republic

These are the types of conversations that are non-productive and show you have nothing meaningful to add without belittling or insulting others with opposing opinions (which I will not engage with for my own sanity if the same rhetoric is used in a reply). If you wish to converse about actual policies or facts with references/sources, then I’m here for that. I will address the only two points you made in your 150+ word reply from this point on.

What about Florida means I should remove my free will of choice to protect my free will of choice? Because a southern conservative state is passing conservative policies? What is the next presidential run of Biden going to do about the Florida microcosm in which you have evoked as reasoning? Here are some references in which I see the battle inside of Florida to continue at the state and local level,

• DeSantis Crony SHREDDED By FED UP Florida College Parent

• Ron DeSantis booed at memorial for victims of Florida mass shooting
• At New College of Florida, a ‘ridiculously high’ number of faculty are gone(quiting)
• Ron DeSantis’ Approval Rating Has Collapsed
• DeSantis fatigue grows among Florida Republicans as 2024 campaign falters
• Opponents hold ‘day without immigrants’ in Florida to protest new restrictions
• Florida Insurance Crisis Explained: Why Multiple Insurers Are Leaving State
• Disney Files Another Suit Against DeSantis’ Board Seeking Damages From Feud While Gov. Tries To ‘Move On’

I think we view the microcosm of Florida differently, one of fear and one of hopefulness.

“Republicans surpass Democrats in terms of their voter registration numbers recently for the first time in state history…Democrats sort of gave up on Florida this cycle and chose to spend their money elsewhere. And, you know, you can argue whether or not that was a correct strategy, but they did obviously have victories elsewhere. But their margins in Florida were just - the losses are so gigantic, in part because the Democratic candidates there received very little support from national donors and really faced a massive fundraising disadvantage. So they weren’t really able to get their message out there.” (npr-2022)

So a state that the democratic party purposefully didn’t fight to support is now our fear to continue supporting the democratic party?

“Republicans focused on the ultimate goal,” said Fernand Amandi, a Miami-based Democratic pollster who helped former President Barack Obama win the state in 2008 and 2012. “They thought things out in 10-year cycles. They built a permanent campaign apparatus. They started recruiting candidates to run for local office and springboarding them into higher office. They registered voters and managed the margins.” (the hill)

Please explain to me how I’m suppose to “get” Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Do you know of it’s history and/or any legislation brought forth by the one party we are allowed to vote for? We’re coming up on near 200 years after the civil war, how many states have RCV currently in main elections and how was that achieved? 2, only 2 states both with ballot initiatives from other sources and not introduced by the Democratic party. One from Alaska which was heavily funded by outside the state (source) and another in Maine which the Democratic Governor refused to sign,

On September 6, 2019, Governor Janet Mills allowed the bill to become law without her signature, which delayed it from taking effect until after the 2020 presidential primaries in March (source). A “people’s veto” in 2018, approved by voters, rejected parts of the new law that sought to delay RCV’s implementation until 2022. (source).

RCV has been pushed in spite of the democratic parties antics, but their the only way to achieve this option? Have you noticed that all of this discourse has nothing to do with Cornel West in which you’ve already used profanity with his name as a means to disenfranchise with no true reasoning? You’re being strangled and are asking them to please continue while begging them to save you.

Sanders said he agrees it “certainly is not” the best economy the U.S. could create, he called on progressives to coalesce around Biden… I think we’ve got to bring the entire progressive community to defeat Trump or whoever the Republican nominee will be, [and] support Biden

(bold by me)

This is just kinda sad and heart breaking. I just don’t get it, with this rhetoric there is never an end and it’s for a candidate who’s not even that great of a choice for the people. Now it’s not even “Trump” that’s the reasoning, just…anyone who’s the republican nominee?

“Where I disagree with my good friend, Cornel West, is I think in these really very difficult times, where there is a real question whether democracy is going to remain in the United States of America.

This is a guy who fought in the civil rights era, he above anyone else should know Democracy will always be threatened.

Democracy is a system of government and form of liberalism in which state power is vested in the people, or the general population of a state based on principles of liberty and free will. source

How is true Democracy being upheld if you’re voting under duress with fear mongering threatening to take the very thing that’s being stolen when told this is the only path forward? The republican party is a shit show right now. The red wave scare that never happened in 2022, the front-runner nominee indicted under multiple charges, the completely abysmal performance of the republican debate, in-fighting between their zealous factions, on and on we must not look at the reality of what’s happening before us. We must simply check-mark the D box without looking into anything and all will be saved.

I’ve just recently ran into a new company advertising besides slot lights and it made the movie unwatchable. Slot lights will usually throw in 2-3 ad breaks which really annoy me because the audio levels are always pumped way up and it breaks the immersion in the narrative, followed with scattered smaller banner ads littered throughout the run time.

This new company slapped a huge banner ad that takes up 1/3 of the screen that’s present during the entire run time. Just insane when it comes to marketing because I can’t even remember the company and made me switch off. VPN + torrent will be a blessing when I can find better versions and get off these streaming sites that just carry them.

Thanks for clearing that up, I value your input.