u/dowagiacmichigan

Every time I’m in either of these towns it seems like everyone has the thickest NY accents… and the traffic on roads like RT 9 and the 520/Tennent intersection is as bad as hylan boulevard and the Staten Island expressway most of the time

Progressive Party:

• Ticket (President/VP): AOC/Brad Lander.
• Defining ideologies: Democratic Socialism, Green Politics.
• Top 5 priorities: Medicare for All, Green New Deal, overturning Citizens United/PAC money out of politics, universal public college, abolishing ICE.
• Key figures: Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, Rashida Tlaib, Abdul El-Sayed, Troy Jackson.
• Key pundits: Medhi Hasan, Hasan Piker, Sam Seder, Vaush.
• Key interest groups: DSA, Jewish Voice for Peace, Sunrise Movement.
• Stance on I/P: strongly anti-Israel, strongly pro-Palestine (1 state solution: Palestine).
• Median voter: 27 years old, nonwhite, female, master's degree, New Yorker, moderate income.

Establishment Left Party:

• Ticket (President/VP): Gavin Newsom/Josh Shapiro.
• Defining Ideologies: Social Liberalism, Neoliberalism.
• Top 5 priorities: Abundance Agenda, Build Back Better, expanded Obamacare access, expanded child tax credits, gun control legislation.
• Key figures: Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker, Jon Ossoff, Abigail Spanberger.
• Key pundits: Pod Save America, Ezra Klein, Nate Silver, Destiny.
• Key interest groups: Emily's List, J-Street, Center for American Progress.
• Stance on I/P: moderately pro-Israel, moderately pro-Palestine (2 state solution: Israel and Palestine).
• Median voter: 56 years old, white, female, bachelor's degree, Illinoisan, high income.

Centrist Party:

• Ticket (President/VP): Josh Gottheimer/Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez.
• Defining Ideologies: Third Way, Institutionalism.
• Top 5 priorities: Bipartisan majority for all bills (everything 60+ votes, no budget reconciliation or executive orders), evenly split Dem/Republican cabinet, returning to civility politics, ICE reform/compromise, compulsory national volunteer service.
• Key figures: John Fetterman, Eric Adams, Mike Bloomberg, Haley Stevens, Jared Golden.
• Key pundits: Bill Maher, Morning Joe, Sam Harris, Bari Weiss.
• Key interest groups: AIPAC, No Labels, Bipartisan Policy Center.
• Stance on I/P: strongly pro-Israel, moderately anti-Palestine. (2 state solution: Israel and Palestine).
• Median voter: 68 years old, white, male, New Hampsherite, master's degree, high income.

Populist Party:

• Ticket (President/VP): Thomas Massie/Ro Khanna.
• Defining Ideologies: Economic Populism, Civil Libertarianism.
• Top 5 priorities: drastically reduced military budget, economic protectionism, releasing Epstein list and prosecuting “elites”, breaking up big tech, congressional age and term limits.
• Key figures: Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., Josh Hawley, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Dan Osborn.
• Key pundits: Joe Rogan, Cenk Uygur, Theo Von, Jimmy Dore.
• Key interest groups: UAW, Teamsters, MAHA.
• Stance on I/P: strongly anti-Israel, moderately pro-Palestine. (1 state solution: Palestine).
• Median voter: 44 years old, nonwhite, male, Michigander, no degree, low income.

Establishment Right Party:

• Ticket (President/VP): Marco Rubio/Nikki Haley.
• Defining Ideologies: Neoconservatism, American Exceptionalism.
• Top 5 priorities: drastically increased military budget, increased hawkishness and global intervention, laissez faire economics, tough-on-crime policies, increased national security/PATRIOT Act measures.
• Key figures: Liz Cheney, Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, Glen Youngkin.
• Key Pundits: Ben Shapiro, Ann Coulter, Piers Morgan, Dave Rubin.
• Key interest groups: AIPAC, Manhattan Institute, US Chamber of Commerce.
• Stance on I/P: strongly pro-Israel, strongly anti-Palestine (1 state solution: Israel)
• Median voter: 65 years old, white, male, Utahn, bachelor's degree, high income.

America First Party:

• Ticket (President/VP): JD Vance/Steven Miller.
• Defining Ideologies: Fascism, Christian Nationalism.
• Top 5 priorities: abolition of democracy/installing Project 2025, total ban on LGBT rights, deportation of all illegal immigrants, unitary executive branch, federal intervention against political and cultural opposition figures.
• Key figures: Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Laura Loomer, Elon Musk, James Fishback
• Key pundits: Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens, Steven Crowder.
• Key Interest Groups: The Heritage Foundation, Turning Point USA, Curtis Yarvin/Dark Enlightenment-associated groups.
• Stance on I/P: moderately anti-Israel, strongly anti-Palestine (0 state solution: total destruction).
• Median voter: 29 years old, white, male, Floridian, no degree, low income.

Here's how I predict the country would vote in 2028:

• 1st place: Establishment Left, 28% of the vote
• 2nd place: America First, 23% of the vote
• 3rd place: Progressive, 18% of the vote
• 4th place: Populist, 16% of the vote
• 5th place: Establishment Right: 9% of the vote
• 6th place: Centrist, 6% of the vote

DISCLAIMER: this post contains my original ideas and was NOT written by AI or an LLM.

Populism is about appealing to a mythicized common folk in direct opposition to the elites, and it's more of a political strategy than an its own ideology. If you're in this sub, it's almost certain that you are very much against populism and its proliferation in the 21st century, given that it erodes public trust in government, is necessarily divisive, and facilitates radical ideologies (i.e. fascism on the right and marxism on the left). However, that doesn't necessarily mean that all ideas associated with populism or policies with populist "vibes" are inherently harmful. As such, I ask: what are some populist positions that you have, or what are some of the least bad populist ideals?

My most populist take: it is disgraceful that the US does not have some form of universal healthcare when every other western democracy does. There's really no excuse for it when we are the wealthiest country in the world, and countries that are significantly poorer than the US have also demonstrated well run universal healthcare systems (I.e. Slovenia). The idea of having crippling medical debt or being penalized for getting/requesting the care you need is unconscionable. I think that the next president should make universal healthcare a top priority, even if it means that addressing the scarcity will take many years or will have immediate political consequences for the party in charge. I have never heard a compelling answer as to why the US is the only nation of its kind without universal healthcare, or why no nation that has universal healthcare wants to switch over to the US system. And for the record, I have many issues with the proposed "Medicare for All" bill and the single-payer model, but I think the US can absolutely run a successful multi-payer UHC system. Many studies have shown that in the long-term that a universal healthcare system will save more money than the current doctor-private insurance race-to-the-bottom mess we're in right now.

Was staying at a luxury hotel that had mandatory valet. Normally, I would not want someone to valet my Grenadier since it's not exactly a vehicle for beginners, but I had no choice. So when I gave the valet attendant my slip to ask for my Grenadier back, he said "Grey Land Rover, right?" Stunned, I said "Sorry, but I do not have a Land Rover, you must be looking at someone else's ticket." The valet was like "we have Grey Land Rover Defender marked down for your room, is that your car?" I replied, "No, it's an Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster X." Valet was like, "we don't have Ineos in our list of brands, we thought it was a Land Rover Defender." Flabbergasted, I gave the valet staff a lesson on what Ineos is and how it is absolutely not the same as the Land Rover Defender, a soccer-mom soft roader. I left the hotel feeling very offended and left a one star review. Could they not tell I had an Ineos Grenadier since that's what a true outdoorsman would drive, and they should know I'm a true outdoorsman from my Patagonia jacket and trail pants and 64oz Yeti bottle decked out in National Park stickers. Sure, maybe my off-road tires didn't have any mud on them, but what new Land Rover do you know of that has a raised air intake? Especially considering I have a Grenadier Trialmaster X, the one for seriously hardcore adventurers. I would not be caught dead in some mall crawler Defender! I advised the valet team that if they would like to keep their jobs, they should really make sure to not get guests' cars makes and models wrong.

Here are 75 of mine:

1. The first-generation Rover 200 (launched 1984) initially used the same suspension settings as the Honda Ballade, upon which the 200 was based. Rover later investigated the 200's suspension after reports of bad handling, and found that the rear spring rates differed by up to 17% per side. They made the necessary adjustments, and the changes were so successful they were later adopted by Honda themselves.
2. The roofs of the 2007 Ford GT and Tesla Model S are so strong that when they were roof crush tested, they both broke the machine.
3. The TVR Chimaera had design input from a dog. The story goes that Peter Wheeler's dog got hold of a scale model of the car and gave it a good chewing. Having got the model off the dog, Trevor looked at the result and thought "actually, that looks pretty good" and incorporated some of the bite marks into the car.
4. The Chrysler PT Cruiser was the first car completely designed in CAD. Because of how tight the engine fit it took several weeks to get production up from more than just a handful of cars a day.
5. Apparently the decision to cancel a production version of the HSV-010 in 2009 was SO unpopular among Honda engineers, the brands marketing director was literally warned not to visit the R&D centre in case of a riot.
6. A  1987 Yugo was the only car to ever get blown off Michigan's Mackinac Bridge due to strong winds. The incident took place in 1989.
7. In production of the 2018 Dodge Demon, Dodge decided to skip production number 666 to avoid creating a bigger resale market for a single customer. There are rumors that this production number was secretly produced anyway.
8. The Volkswagen Phaeton was supposed to be designed with 10 required parameters. When Ferdinand Piëch announced them, half of the engineering team supposedly walked about because it was impossible to achieve. The only parameter that’s been made public is this: "The Phaeton must be able to be driven all day at 186mph, in 120-degree weather, while maintaining a cabin temperature of 71.6-degrees".
9. The 1960 Maserari 3500 GTi was the first car to carry the GTi nomenclature. It was also the first Italian fuel-injected car. A Grand Tourer injected, the suffix would later be adopted by hot hatches without any relevance to a car actually being a grand tourer.
10. The second-gen Mitsubishi Diamante was extensively facelifted in 2004, yet its sales were less than half of the pre-facelifted car in 2003. Only 1,400 of the 2004 Diamantes were sold in the US market in 2004. The 2004 Diamante was also the first Diamante to be sold in Canada, and only 400 were sold.
11. The quickest 0-60 time for an American car in 1978 and 1979 was... the Dodge Ram Lil Red Express. Boasting a time of 7.4 seconds, it was more than an entire second quicker than a Corvette.
12. The model names Pacer, Villager, Citation, Ranger, and Corsair all first appeared on Edsels.
13. The most powerful FIAT ever made was... the Freemont, that crappy rebadge of a Dodge Journey for the European market. With the 3.6L V6, it made 290hp.
14. The Buick Regal Grand National was, for years, widely recognized by car guys as one of the fastest production cars you could buy in the mid 1980s, mainly because Car and Driver clocked it at the absurd 0-60 time of 4.7 seconds in a road test. Even in that article they scratched their head a little and said the math didn’t seem to add up (hp vs weight), but in the end they hand-waved it away by citing atmospheric conditions, declaring the car unbelievably fast and the sleeper of the century. Then 20 years later in a retrospective in their 50th anniversary issue, C&D admitted they’d been slipped a ringer by GM.
15. Honda developed the CVCC system which used a special carburetor design which sent a small rich mixture near the spark plug to ignite a larger lean mixture, allowing the engines to meet 1970s California emissions requirements without a catalyst, meaning you could run them on cheaper leaded fuel. Ford and Chrysler licensed the system from Honda, but GM’s CEO dismissed it as a technology that only worked on "little toy motorcycle engines." So as a screw you to GM, Soichiro Honda bought a 1973 Impala with a 350ci V8, had his engineers build CVCC heads for it, then had the EPA emissions test it. It passed with no loss in power, plus improved fuel economy.
16. Many believe that the Ford Pinto was the deadliest car ever made due to its gas tank being able to catch fire. However, more than four times the amount of people died from ignition issues in the Chevrolet Cobalt/Pontiac G5 (27 versus 124).
17. The Suzuki Carry is the only car to have been rebadged as both a Ford and a Chevrolet.
18. In 1969, Pontiac developed an experimental lightweight 427 hemi V8. It had direct port injection, overhead cams and an aluminum block. Pontiac engineers claimed it could make 640hp.
19. GEO, despite being a GM brand, never sold any actual GM based vehicles.
20. The Honda Accord from 1986-1989 was available with both fuel injected and carbureted versions of the same 2.0 four-cylinder engine. Yet the carbureted version got 3 higher MPG than the fuel injected one. This was because the fuel injected version, with its 4 fuel injectors, had only 25% of the computing power available for each injector.
21. The Dodge Avenger sold so poorly in the UK, that some dealers started offering a buy one/get one free deal in fall 2008, at the height of the financial crisis.
22. The 1958 Chrysler Norseman concept was never shown to the public. It was on SS Andrea Doria when it sank near Nantucket. That was the only concept of the Norseman that existed. Amazingly, someone explored the Andrea Dorias remains in the 1990s and found the Norseman’s mangled remains (mainly just the steel bits and the wheels) among the rusted ship.
23. The rearview mirror was invented in 1911 on the Marmon Wasp, the first car to win the Indy 500, as a way to get around the rule requiring riding mechanics.
24. The GMC Motorhome, the only RV ever made by a Big Three automaker, was FWD. Same FWD setup developed for the Oldsmobile Toronado (and later used on the Buick Riviera and Cadillac Eldorado).
25. Cadillac was in the midst of developing a 7.4L V12 for the 1967 Eldorado. If it had been produced, it would be the only FWD car to ever have a V12. Cadillac again revisited the V12 around 1974 for the Fleetwood, but these plans were cancelled in light of tightened emissions laws.
26. The 1958 Chevrolet Full Size lineup was the most expensive American car ever developed, costing over $3.5 billion adjusted for inflation. Yet they were only to be replaced in 1959 with the next generation.
27. The Chrysler turbine engine was allegedly past its development issues when it was scuttled as part of the US government bailout deal.
28. The Škoda 105 was sold as 1050 in France, for the same reason Porsche scrapped the 901 name in favor of 911- Peugeot had trademarked a three digit number with a 0 in the middle for a car model name. Yet the Ferrari 206, 208, and 308 slipped by because Ferrari paid an undisclosed amount of money to Peugeot to get around the trademark.
29. In its Japanese press releases, Mitsubishi called the asymmetrical hood bumps on the first and second gen Eclipse "Power Bulges."
30. The 2020-2021 Geely Icon, a Chinese compact CUV, featured an "intelligation air purification" system that was specifically designed to filter out the COVID-19 virus.
31. The first-year (1993) only Nissan Altima was officially the "Nissan Stanza Altima" despite being marketed as just the Nissan Altima. The new 1993 Altima was originally supposed to be named Stanza, just like its predecessor. Due to US auto naming regulations, it needed to have the "Stanza" name at least once somewhere on the car, so in very small font, there was a "Stanza" badge on the rear, right next to the comparatively massive "Altima" badge.
32. During its time, the Alfa Romeo Alfasud was known to be the most rust prone car in Europe. Alfa Romeo used substandard quality steel and improperly stored unpainted shells in the "backlot" until they could be painted. Those rusted, fast, leading Alfa Romeo to paint over the rust.
33. Bugatti built over 100 engines for the ultra luxurious Royale from 1927 to 1933, but only six Royales were ever produced. They developed a railcar for the french railway that used 2-4 of the engines each to get rid of them without losing even more money.
34. In 2009, Maserati offered the Centurion special edition for the Quattroporte for the US market. You could only buy one if you had a black AMEX credit card. A black AMEX-card is given to you if you spend at least 500k USD per year on your American Express Card while maintaining an 800+ credit score. All the Centurion package included was a pearl black exterior, black and white interior seats, and "Centurion" badges throughout the car. It retailed for $135,000.
35. In a marketing blunder, the 265hp 2011 WRX was faster than a 305hp STI in the 0-60 test by 0.1 seconds. The WRX had a 5 speed manual, with the STI having a 6 speed manual, requiring 1 extra shift to get to 60mph, allowing the less powerful and less expensive car to hit that 60mph point sooner. At 80mph (and everywhere else), The STI smokes the WRX- but that's not what was in the reviews.
36. Toyota intentionally made the ECU in the Celica GT-Four difficult to modify by locking the software and encasing the internals in epoxy, preventing the use of piggyback tuners. It was a strategic move to ensure the Supra remained the brand’s flagship performance car. If left unrestricted, the GT-Four risked having been tuned to outperform the Supra at a lower cost.
37. The 2016-2025 Nissan Titan was the most "Made in the USA" truck on the market, having been designed in California, its engined built in Tennessee, and produced in Mississippi. Its only part to come from outside of the US was the transmission.
38. The redesigned 2004 Honda Legend (Acura RL) was the first Japanese car to break the 276hp gentleman's agreement. The car was marketed to have 296hp.
39. MK5 Golf GTI speedometers were notorious for showing higher than actual speeds by up to 8-10%, but also had a "secret" menu activated using the climate control buttons that would show the actual speed and other info.
40. The 6th gen Camaro ZL1 1LE never made it to the EU market because it was deemed "too dangerous" for pedestrians due to its canards.
41. The third-gen Nissan Primera was designed to look like a snowdrift had covered it. Its designer, Stephane Schwarz, saw a car covered in snow on the way to work, which inspired his design for the 3rd-gen Primera.
42. The long-defunct US luxury car brand Marmon ran a print ad with Helen Keller boasting how great their cars felt in 1923.
43. A fair amount of people know that in 1986, the Buick Riviera was the first production car to feature a touch screen, but the first colortouch screen was offered in the the Oldsmobile Toronado only 3 years later.
44. When Bill Hayden, the CEO of Jaguar at the time, was shown a clay model of the new 1994 Jaguar XJ, he publicly exclaimed that the car looked so good he was about to have an orgasm.
45. The sixth generation Chevrolet Malibu entered production in 2004. However, the fifth generation Malibu was sold concurrently until 2005. Why? Supposedly GM forgot to tell the Lansing, MI factory to stop production of the 5th gen car. As such, over 10,000 fifth-gen Malibus were sold concurrently as the "Chevrolet Classic" at a lower price offered to rental fleets.
46. When Chrysler was promoting its 1963 Turbine Car in Mexico City, they filled the tank with tequila to show it could run on anything combustible. The car also proved it could run on gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, furnace oil, peanut oil, and even perfume.
47. In 2013 Opel started selling the Opel Adam, a subcompact car named after Opel's founder: Adam Opel. But Adam Opel famously hated cars, and thought they were noisy, smelly and awful, and the Opel company didn't actually start producing cars until after his death.
48. The Lincoln MKC could tow MORE with the base engine than the upgraded engine. The 2.0-liter I4 could tow up to 3,500lbs when properly equipped, but the 2.3-liter I4 could only tow 2,000lbs.
49. The Vauxhall Victor (FE), launched in 1972, was the last independent Vauxhall with no commonality with Opel. It did look superficially similar to the Opel Rekord but they shared no interchangeable parts.
50. The name, "Camry" from Toyota is an English transliteration of the Japanese word, "Kanmuri" which is a crown worn by emperors and noble class in Japan.
51. The Lamborghini Miura was the first production car to use fake tailpipes.
52. Early model second-get Volvo S80s had heartbeat detectors; a sensor that was supposed to tell you if there was someone in your car so when you’re walking back to it late at night with no one around, you could make sure no one is inside waiting to jump you.
53. A moonroof was available as an option on the Pontiac Firebird, 1976 only. Allegedly only 30 of them were produced.
54. Later model Buick Park Avenues and Cadillac Devilles could come with heads-up display, built by Raytheon, unheard of for the early 2000s.
55. GM offered airbags on 1973 Impalas and Caprices as a part of the safety measures like the big bumpers and no-start without a seatbelt. It was an optional extra, and very rarely ordered. They quietly discontinued it because they were afraid it would become mandated on all cars like seatbelts.
56. The 1989-2004 Toyota HiAce had a few strange options: a built-in electric kettle, a microphone designed to talk to passengers via built-in headphones called Joyful Talk, and a "cool and hot box" which could either cool or warm your food.
57. Various early-2000s Mercedes-Benz models (S, CL, E, and C classes) had a rare voice control option, Linguatronic in Mercedes parlance. What made it unique was that it controlled all of the radio functions: car phone, radio, weather radio, CD player, and cassette deck. It is the only voice-controlled cassette deck in existence.
58. A 2010 study of BMW 1-series (hatchback) owners revealed that about 80% of them thought that the car was FWD, not RWD.
59. Following the sale of the new '99 Mustang Cobra, people began realizing that it was making around 285 horsepower, far less than the 320 Ford had advertised. This actually made it slower than the Cobra of the previous model year. Ford halted new 1999 Cobra sales in August of '99 and recalled every single car. They replaced "the intake manifold, certain computer components, and the factory cat-back" to reach the 320hp number they were looking for.
60. Volvo's turn signal sound come from the sound of branches being broken in the Swedish forest. Took about 300 different branches to find the perfect sound.
61. The classic Mini Cooper, produced from 1959-2000, outlived its successor, the MG Metro, by two years. Much of the OG Mini's later success was attributed to the Japanese market, where later models featured multi port fuel injection, power windows and locks, AC, and passenger side airbags. Ironically, Japan wouldn't allow them to be sold there in the Mini's early years.
62. Jaguar won a NASCAR cup series race in 1954.
63. To help further differentiate it from the luxurious Crown and Century sedans, the all-new 1990 Toyota Celsior (Lexus LS) was specifically marketed to Japanese businessmen for having a glovebox fax machine, which no other Toyota sedan featured.
64. Mercedes had an awkward situation on their hands in 2004 when their new CL600 turned out to be quicker from 0-60 than the more expensive and exclusive CL65 AMG. Something about torque curves and gearing ratios meant that the CL600 could use more of its power more of the time. The solution was to just straight up lie about the numbers. Officially, the CL65 will do 0-60 in 4.2 seconds and the CL600 does 4.5. Unofficially, the latter will do it in 4.0.
65. The automatic transmission of the 2009-2015 BMW 7-Series is linked to the navigation system. This is so that the transmission can provide the correct gear if the upcoming road is on an incline or on a bend. It also understands the incline and distance to the next speed decrease and tells the car when it’s time to coast.
66. The first-gen Mercedes AMG GLA 45 didn't have rear window tint in the US even though the normal GLA models did. The suspension was lower than the normal GLA, so apparently Mercedes had to classify it as a car rather than an SUV, invoking stricter rules about tint. It's the only instance where the low-end version of a car had rear tint and the high-end one didn't.
67. The C6 generation of the Corvette was the only Corvette to never be available in green.
68. Very early MG MGB roadsters had an option for a single rear seat.
69. Each generation of the Mercury Capri was a completely different car. The first one was the Euro Ford Capri rebadged, the 2nd one is a rebadged Mustang, and the third one is a rebadged Aussie Ford Capri.
70. The Toyota GT-One was homologated because the rules said the mandatory road car had to have a luggage compartment big enough for a suitcase. Toyota's response? An empty fuel tank. And it passed.
71. Wiesmann's logo is a gecko, apparently to show how their cars stick to the road like a gecko sticks to a wall.
72. All three of the Big Three (Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford) have made a car called the Durango at one point or another.
73. A 1999 Citroen Xantia Activa held the record of the highest cornering speed for the swedish moose test at 86 km/h, beating the Porsche 911 GT3 RS as well as the Audi R8. It was only beaten in 2019 by a Nissan Juke.
74. That’s a doozy", an informal expression meaning something is extraordinary, came about in the early 20th century as a reaction to the Duesenberg luxury automobile which was opulent and impressive to the average passerby.
75. The Honda Element had no shortage of peculiar features: a bike mount in the cargo area; backseats were mounted slightly higher than the front seats, kind of like stadium-style seating; backseats that would fold up and carabiner connect onto the grab handle to create a flat floor; all seats seats were covered in a moisture resistant fabric that could be easily cleaned; the floor was made out of urethane which meant that you could easily wet-clean it with a bucket-o-suds if needed; the overhead storage compartment in the front could fit a Mac Mini inside and still close the door; the sunroof was located in the back of the car and only came on 4WD models; the rear hatch was a vertical clamshell design which included a very useful tailgate.

That's all I've got. Give me some of your nerdiest car facts!

My 76 year old grandfather is in the moderate stages of dementia and currently lives with his younger sister who is his full time caregiver. My grandpa was a functioning alcoholic for most of his life, until about 20 years ago, where he not only became sober but became very involved in our local Alcoholics Anonymous chapter mentoring others, until he developed dementia two years ago.

He seems to be at the point of his dementia where his long term memory is just starting to take a hit and for the last few weeks he seems to have completely forgotten that he has become sober. My aunt says that he constantly asks her for beer, asks to be driven to the liquor store (he gave up driving due to dementia which he also sometimes forgets), asks to go to the bar, and rummages inside random cabinets looking for alcohol. I watched my grandpa for two days while my aunt went on vacation and most of the time my grandpa was fine, but sometimes out of nowhere he would start begging for alcohol and nothing would change his mind. For example, he would often get out the bottle of maple syrup from the fridge thinking it was bourbon and I would have to tell him that it is maple syrup. We would try to remind him about all of the good things he’s done at Alcoholics Anonymous to redirect, but most of the time he has completely forgot.

My aunt started buying him non alcoholic beer, but somehow my grandpa is still sharp enough to recognize that it was not his go to beer (he would get drunk on Yuengling beer almost daily for three decades). So he demands that beer in particular. The problem is, that when he gets really agitated and persistent, my aunt will give in and buy him a beer. Her logic seems to be “well he’s going to die anyway so he may as well enjoy himself” or “I’m not letting him get drunk it’s just 1 beer” or “he’s more relaxed if he has a beer.”

I feel incredibly uneasy about the situation and so does much of my family. I’m sure his liver is not in the best shape from years of drinking so even “a beer now and then” could really worsen his health. Dementia caregivers, how do you deal with a patient who often wants alcohol/forgets that they are sober?

There are these two traffic lights I regularly drive on and they both annoy me to no end.

1. Route 34/Route 520 intersection in Holmdel. The 34 traffic gets a full two minutes to go, meanwhile the 520 sides literally get 10 seconds. The westbound traffic is a "delayed green." As such, this leads to long lines of cars waiting on the 520 sides and many cars are not able to make it through the light in one cycle.

2. White Road/Branch Ave intersection in Little Silver. No matter what time of the day it is, the traffic is ALWAYS backed up, and hardly any cars can get through the light from White Road until it turns red. It also doesn't help that right after you make the left turn from White onto Branch, there is another long light for Rumson Road.

What do you all think are the worst/most annoying traffic lights in the county?