How, exactly, do we “not let them get away with it” when 1/4 - 1/3 of Americans happily accept the nonsense without thought, and another 1/5+ think MAYBE it’s true, maybe not, but they’re too intellectually incurious and lazy to find out.

Thinking people don’t need to be told any of this, it’s blatantly obvious to anyone who puts forth the tiniest effort to look into any of their claims and the intentional bastardization of accepted terminology to create scapegoats they can target.

The question is how do we get people to start thinking again? I fear as long as “smart” phones and social media are legal, we won’t.

Even porn needs the tiniest of a setup what is to....come. It's porn.

Both my reply & the video itself are both tongue-in-cheek. So who knows the "stop before the line" mistake is intentional by the narrator or not?

What you described is pretty much correct. Where I live (suburb of Toronto - Canada's largest city of ~6 million) I've only seen 2 aroundabout in my area, and they're in located in low traffic residential area and they're the tiniest of aroundabouts. But I love them, they're confusing to us North American, I guess, but they're quite efficient.

I don't agree with you on this one, Bob.

My wife and I have been together since 1995. In that time, we've both dealt with issues in our lives that might have lead to the deaths of either one of us had we not been together. We've been through hell and kept each other on our feet when we felt like we couldn't walk another step. We've been there for each other in the absolute worst moments of our lives.

On the other side, my favorite memories always include her: the first time we saw the Eiffel Tower together; hiking together in Henry Coe State Park; nights in Mendocino and dinners at Brouwer's. A thousand thousand little things where she's brought happiness into my life. How much joy I experience just holding her hand!

Men lose everything? Have someone look at you when you feel like absolute human shit -- like you're the tiniest speck of worthlessness in the universe -- and say "I love you." Someone who doesn't just rescue you from yourself, but lifts you up into the pure light of happiness and joy, is the absolute affirmation of goodness in the human heart.

I say this with all honesty, with no malice and no sense of superiority, just one human being to another: if something happened to you that makes you feel the way you do, if someone hurt you that bad, then I wish it were within my power to lift that from your heart and soul. No one ever deserves to have love turned to hate, least of all you.

See, my distinct impression of the Trump administration's policies and actions surrounding immigrants at our southern border was that it... wanted them to fuck off and/or die. "Remain in Mexico" was abhorrent. Family separation was a humanitarian disaster.

What *specific* policies or actions did the Trump administration take or promote which should make me believe they cared? That they had even the tiniest shred of humanity regarding people who've suffered enormously and struggled to reach what they hoped *might be* a less shitty life for themselves and their children?

"Come in legally" is fine, so long as we live up to being the beacon of hope and freedom that we like to think we are. Which would require allowing in a LOT more refugees than the Trump admin tolerated.

Ever read the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty? It is beautiful, and if the US can manage to live up to it for a change then perhaps we'll have made America great, for the first time.

Ah yes, the compassionate "fuck the old people, let 'em die" approach to covid.

This of course ignores the fact that many who recover from it have substantial lingering effects. And many old people aren't as cavalier about death as that lady. Oh, and even young people can die from it. But by all means, let's just pretend it's no big deal because the current administration couldn't be bothered to show even the tiniest bit of leadership in the face of crisis, and can't admit to mistakes or ever change course.

How many people would stereotype these guys because of their pants and their hair and the color of their skin? How many people would look at them and use exactly the word you're thinking of? And how many of those people do you think would exhibit even the tiniest fraction of humanity, kindness and decency that these men showed?

I really hope this video changes someone's mind.

Wow Big news.

So the tiniest of evidence to open a spy campaign against Trump. OK

But they found nothing and kept on spying. Corrupt Anti Trump which hunt on full display.

No professional bias found. - OK yep. But would one admit wrong doing of this type? Still the IG report was limited in scope.

Will need to see the Durham report next.


IG conclusion: ZERO Russian connection/ collusion/ interference with the election. So much for Trump being Putin's puppet. Serious mis handling / lying of officials to keep the spying / FIASA going.



All in all a Victory for Trump and team.

No Bob, it has not.

A few cases a year of forcibly separating children from their family for cause or temporarily holding unaccompanied minors is in no way the same as jailing every refugee, legal or not, and separating thousands of children a month.

And real Republicans (not you) have finally found the Rubicon they won't cross, and are starting to become Democrats in large numbers with some long respected Republicans leading them in an effort to slow the Trumpian destruction they went along with for too long....i just hope enough of them to counteract the know nothing tribalistic morons that are replacing intelligent people in your party.

You are such a careless and sad liar...if you're going to lie, come up with better, harder to disprove lies, or face a lambasting for your stupidity and gullibility in believing Russian propaganda once again (after falling into that pit so many times I can't count) without ever making the tiniest bit of effort to see if what you wish is true and have been told by oan Jones RT or faux is true actually is true (hint, it never is).


You just love spreading obvious, easily debunked, idiotic lies....
But Jesus, Bob, even for you, this is pathetic, and that's saying a lot.

Fuck any person going on a humanitarian trip to see terrified displaced separated refugee children while wearing a message saying "I don't care". They are either too heartless or brainless to deserve a whit of respect, there's no middle ground.
Fuck anyone willing to tear apart thousands of families as a form of political blackmail , fuck them in the ass with a billy club if they have no plan on how to reverse their family separations when their bullying tactic fails.
Fuck anyone standing with and defending those indefensible actions of human garbage.

Bob's pretty much right, by the only numbers that matter (electoral votes). Is that a stupid system, that both sides should be clamoring to resign to the scrap heap? Yes. But they aren't, in spite of the D's getting screwed by it twice in very recent memory, and even the R "beneficiaries" have had to try to deal with some uncomfortable infighting and internal strife as a result (cue world's tiniest violin).

I don't think Trump is some sort of super genius and that he "played the game under the existing rules" better than Hillary or anything. He won by a technicality, just as you say -- but the mere fact that anyone can actually win by such a technicality ought to be an unbearable affront to our very conceptions of Democracy and Government. Instead, entirely too many of us seemed too complacent and apathetic to give a fuck, moments later. I really wish I could muster some surprise at this point.

I don't agree with Bob's other assertion that Trump stands a great chance of beating anyone that gets the D nod in 2020. On the other hand, 2016 proved the old adage about what happens when we assume.

I do completely concur with (both of) you that President Oprah isn't the answer.

This has 7000 or so views on youtube. I wonder if a single one of them was even the tiniest bit surprised that this happened.

Actually, scratch that. I'd say a good few were surprised anyone got punished for it.

ah,the days of being in a relationship with a woman,who loved painkilllers with her jug wine.

who would wake me up in the dead of the night,using the super heated metal tops of a bic lighter on the bottom of my feet (those are called "smileys" for those who do not know) to scream at me about some girl who had the audacity to look my way at target,because 3:30am is the time to find out if i am having sexual thoughts about random women.

or an earlier girlfriend whose father was a prominent artist in the country and was holding a weekend jazz festival.i had a customer who had cerebal palsy,and one leg had been amputated,whose boyfriend had just broke up with her and she was a wreck.

so i had this bright idea! why doesn't this poor emotional wreck of a woman come to the jazz festival of my girlfriends dad? that will get her mind off things right?

but,having a second person accompany made me a little late.so when i finally showed up,my girlfriend was already half in the bag,and mad.i tried to explain and introduce her to mary,the heartbroken girl.

and my girlfriend broke my nose with a bottle of michelob.i do not think she cared that mary was heart broken,and an utter wreck in need of human company.i could be wrong,this is just a guess,but the bleeding from my broken nose may have been a strong indicator.

or how about the time i was counseling a long time friend,who had pulled a midnight move out to escape a man who had basically had her trapped in a spare room,chaining her to the wall.that man had gone as far as severing her achilles tendons,after her first attempt to escape,and this woman suffered from a severe case of PTSD.

now she did form an almost childlike bond to me.maybe because i had offered her the first taste of true compassion,and offered her safety and comfort,and allowed her to talk the poison and bile out that had been building inside her for over three years.

but her attachment to me,which was to be expected,was not viewed favorably by my girlfriend.i spent a lot of time and attention in drawing this broken and damaged young woman to feel safe,and to begin to feel human again(which infuriated my girlfriend).my patio was always filled with friends,artists and people of interest,and i did my best to bring a normalcy to this young womans life in order to help her acclimate,and to feel human again.

and my girlfriend would come home,get drunk,and start to whisper the most vile.and disgusting things..not about this young woman,but about me.

which,of course,if you understand the mentality of an abuse victim.especially one who had suffered such as she had.any criticism,or perceived threat to the person who had (in their mind) saved them,will create incredible anger and anxiety.

so because of my girlfriends irrational jealousy of this woman,and in her drunken selfishness,she went out of her way to make this woman feel as uncomfortable,and as unsafe (the exact opposite of what i was trying to do).so much so that the young woman...who didn't want to be a burden,or affect my life in a negative way...left my home,and wrote me she would never come back,because she loved me and didnt want to cause problems.

two weeks later she was found dead in motel room.over dose of piankiller and xanax...and wrists slashed to ribbons.

or how about the time one of my girlfriends broke three of my ribs,because i was being kind to a waitress?

or the time another girlfriend stabbed me,because while she was unhappy with our relationship,she could not abide me talking to anyone who owned a vagina.in this case a fellow artist i was collaborating with,and who happened to be not only an amazing human being but beautiful as well.

or that one time,when i broke up with a girl,because it simply was not working out and she repeatedly rammed her ford fairmont station wagon into my brand new firebird?

oh..the stories i can tell about all my wonderful relationships,and the women i have shared portions of my life with.i could write a book...

and then i watch this video,and i am overcome with an urge to drive cross country to the creators home,walk inside,grab him by the ankles and crag him outsides....and beat him senseless.

because he is coming from a false premise.
he is implying the that the benefits of relationships outweigh he selective memory our brains create when reliving our moments of singlehood.

when the reality is this:as long as you have friends,who love and accept you for who you are,you are never actually single.you are surrounded and loved by an extended family.

i do not need a girlfriend.
i do not want a girlfriend.
i am not interested in getting married.
and as i have revealed here,i would prefer some memories to remain buried under the much happier and adoring memories of my actual friends who put up with my eccentricities,and my overall oddness,rather than deal with a woman who is smitten with the ideas fed to them by institutions,and periodicals such as comsopolitian and vogue.

though,ironically,i have two ex girlfriends living in my home as i write this.
one is a former porn star,and current stripper who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia,and is a recovering addict.

while the other i had to go do a midnight rescue from a place where she was renting a room,but the house was junkie house,and she is a recovering addict as well (and they also kept stealing everything from her).she has bought a house,but it needs work and that work is taking fooooooorever.

and BOTH of these women still harbor some residual feelings towards me.even though i have been quite clear,open and honest that i have ZERO interest in rekindling anything,with either of them,but that hasn't stopped them from being all catty with each other,and causing drama,and complaining about the smallest,tiniest and most ridiculous of things to bitch about.

at first i tried to play referee.
i did my best to help everyone get along,until i realized they both had no interest in getting along.they wanted to outdo the other in order to get my attention.

which is just.....dumb..but anyways,my new way of handling their insipid complaints is always this response:i don't care.

and it seems to work beautifully.

so there you have my story,or at least part of it.
and i have to say...this guy is kinda full of shit.

for those of you happily married,with a great partner,i salute you.good for you,and i mean that.

but for me?
no thanks.i am good.

Opt-in would be an improvement in many cases, but I've changed my mind on it over the years and no longer see it as a working concept.

Let's put aside all the issues on the corporate end of things: even on the consumer end, it only ever works with competent consumers. Choice becomes a farce if you don't understand the different options, especially if any detrimental effects are indirect in nature, as is the case with the vast majority of information-related issues. The tiniest incentive is enough to sway folks towards pressing the fucking "Accept" button, so to speak.

In the same manner, transparency is all fine and dandy, but nobody's going to read anything longer than a single paragraph, everybody wants the paperwork out of the way so they can get the cookie.

Most folks don't have the time or the motivation to go into the nitty-gritty of personal data sovereignty. Put it up against convenience, and people don't give two shits about their data.

So there it is, the concept of a sovereign consumer is an illusion. The question is: do you take the decision away from the consumer for his/her own sake? Do you manipulate the decision making process by making it massively more inconvenient to give away your data?

Bad options all around...

While i certainly appreciate your concern for menstrual cycles everywhere and i don't want to distract from your truly epic mic dropping moment against poor newt... can you honestly, with even the tiniest bit of objectivity go back and read through these posts and still act like your some kind of victim and sole occupant of the moral high ground?