Prozac

Let’s talk about this. Point 1: Vile hatred. Hard to disagree with that. However, there was plenty of vile hatred to go around for his predecessor who, regardless of your views on his policies, was at least a decent human being. Trump is a classless, base individual who’s greatest success in life was a reality TV program where he was known for summarily firing people. He incessantly attacked his political enemies and the media with juvenile language that my middle schooler finds laughable. Is it any wonder that a large portion of the population despised Trump from the get go (I’ll include myself in that group)? Anyone who supported Trump’s nomination should not be remotely surprised that he was a highly polarizing figure. In fact, I think most of his supporters reveled in that fact. They seemed really pleased by all the “liberal tears”. You don’t get to act all incredulous about the “vile hatred” four years later. You knew that was the case going in and that was part of why you liked the idea. You reap what you sow. Point 2: Riots met with tacit approval. By whom? I do believe that all leaders condemned that violence when it was going on. Questioning and/or criticizing police culture in America should not be conflated with approval of violence. What absolutely did not happen was any elected official actively calling on their supporters to start an insurrection, so sorry, no contest here. Isn’t it also interesting that when the protestors called themselves things like “Black Lives Matter”, the Capitol was buttoned down like a tank and the police and National Guard seemed ready for battle? But when the protest was and angry, armed white MAGA mob, they were able to breach the Capitol building seemingly uncontested? Things that make you go hmmmm. Point 3: The embracing of socialism. Again, by whom? This seems to be more of a trope advanced by right wing media than anything approaching reality. Remember, the Dems nominated the candidate that rejected their extreme wing. The R’s nominated the candidate who embraced and curated theirs. I’m not arguing the Dems don’t have serious problems or that their platform is summarily superior to conservative ideas. They do and it’s not. But what happened yesterday is wholly on Trump and his enablers and supporters on the right. Sorry, you don’t get to lump the rest of the country into this. If you supported Trump, you own this.

Finally an honest dealership commercial.

Look guys, we’re not perfect. In fact, we’ve been pretty consistently far from it. Welcome to the human world. But despite our shortcomings, this country has, since its inception been the prime example of a nation made by the people, for the people. I’m tempted to lay into some of you for suggesting that we are no different or better than some third rate, corruption ridden banana republic. But I won’t. I won’t because I don’t think any of you really believe that. People don’t put on a uniform and serve with the distinction that differentiates the American serviceman from every other fighting man in the world unless they believe that their country is, in fact, exceptional. No American should accept the shitshow we’re witnessing today as just some expression of the new normal. It’s not normal as long as we refuse to accept it as such.

We absolutely have been and should continue to be “above all this”. That is exactly what American Exceptionalism has always been about. The President (the fucking President....it boggles the mind) has done severe, maybe irreparable damage to that concept. Mayors and legislatures don’t symbolize freedom and democracy around the world. The office of the POTUS does. Or at least it did before today. If “we do have that here” now, it’s squarely because Donald Trump and his supporters decided to.

Are you kidding? It ABSOLUTELY is quantitatively different when the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES incites seditious activity against the VERY GOVERNMENT that he is supposed to lead! This is the United States of America. We don’t fucking do that here! The leader of the free world is attacking his own country because he can’t adult. It’s shameful. It’s dangerous, and it’s tragic.

R’s should’ve taken the opportunity to impeach Trump and take their party back when they had the chance. Fuck anyone who continued to go along with his seditious post-election charade. Not saying the Dems are without their own problems, but the R’s will be paying for this little four year tryst for a long time. I rarely make predictions but here’s one: Lindsay Graham lasts one more term before inevitable demographic changes in his state take him out of the senate. Had he had the balls to stand by his 2016 pre-election assessment of Trump he might have a chance. But he chose to fall in lockstep with the new Trump style “conservatism”. He, and many other Republicans will eventually pay for this mistake. Too bad too. The country needs a strong Conservative party to act as a check on the Dems. Trump has been a disaster for this country, conservatives included.

Careful now. Dems have a long history of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Hence the reason I’m pro vaccine. If vaccination rates don’t get to where they need to be, the pain is going to last much longer than necessary.

Is it really too much to ask people to think things through to a logical conclusion? Of course we will have to continue to social distance and wear masks for as long as C19 continues to spread unabated. However, the sooner we reach heard immunity (vaccination will allow for this FAR faster than letting it happen naturally, and at FAR less cost), the sooner the virus stops spreading, and the sooner we can take the fucking masks off and get back to life. Simple.

To your first point: getting the high risk population vaccinated is a hurdle that we have yet to pass, as you alluded to. Assuming we get there, you may have a valid point. I’d say ask a epidemiologist. I’m not one, and so far they are saying we need 70-80% vaccination to eradicate this disease. As I am not an expert on the topic, I’m inclined to believe them. To your second point: We can all hem and haw over the effectiveness of various local policies regarding trying to stem the spread of COVID. I certainly don’t agree with everything going on in my neck of the country (especially schools remaining closed), but there are a lot of people attempting to make policy with the best information they have. I wouldn’t want their jobs & honestly don’t understand what they stand to gain by implementing restrictions other than pissing off a large portion of society. Regardless of how you or I feel about these policies, they will be here for the duration of the pandemic. It stands to reason that if you want those restrictions to go away, you should very much be pro vaccine.

I care about overall vaccination numbers because even once I’m vaccinated, my unvaccinated neighbors will continue to fill up hospitals and drain resources from the local all the way up to the national level. I care about those numbers because if a large percentage of the population remains unvaccinated, that will extend policies requiring social distancing, mask wearing, and continue to hobble the economy. It really seems pretty simple to me: If you want your life back, get your vaccine and encourage your family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors to get it too.

We did the same. We try and do takeout as often as we can & also tip generously. Looking forward to a time, hopefully sooner rather than later, when vaccines and other measures such as improved treatments allow our town/state/nation/world to go back to something approaching normal. I sincerely hope to see all of the proprietors of small businesses and restaurants back on their feet soon & will support them in any way I can.

I live in the Seattle area and am only being partially tongue in cheek when I say that tent camping seems to be more popular in Pioneer Square than the Cascades these days and vice-versa for coffee drinking. 😝 In all honesty though Seattle still has a lot going for it as do any number of surrounding communities. Come on up. The water’s warm (a balmy 50F in July)!

Yikes. Guessing there will be a lot of FAA scrutiny on warbird operators after reading some of that.

that doesn’t buy this official A-Team van up for auction: https://jalopnik.com/your-next-ride-could-be-an-officially-licensed-a-team-v-1845919523 Now stop your jibber jabber and start bidding! Fools!

Trash Pandas it is then.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. The choices before us are wide scale vaccination or a couple years or more of continued economic devastation and hundreds of thousands more deaths. I vote for the former and will be in line at the earliest opportunity.

I feel like a lot of those films were great in spite of Cage, not because of him. I will give you Lord of War though. Something about him walking around in a drug induced stupor in the slums of Liberia just worked. Also, I never saw Raising Arizona and have been chastised by many for missing that one, so it’s on my to watch list.

Once.

This has the potential to be the only thing I’ve ever liked Nick Cage in.

Ten years is already too long and the needs of the AF will always take precedence. Just ask a bunch of the dudes in my year group who got the fighter of their dreams after UPT, only to find themselves “flying” Preds three years later. If you want to guarantee your airframe, go Guard and be prepared to work your ass off.

To be fair, the Daily Mail’s headline is a bit clickbaity (yes I just made that word up, and yes I’m keeping it). The district has not decided to rename anything and the recommendations were just that; recommendations made by a school naming board consisting of students, teachers, and parents. The LA Times has a more balanced take on the topic: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-30/san-francisco-public-school-renaming The mayor ofSan Fran rightly criticized the board and called the recommendations an unwanted distraction especially considering kids were out of classrooms and parents are trying to maintain sanity. While I agree this committee’s recommendations do little to assuage concerns about the reach of radicals, let’s see what actually happens here before we crank up the outrage machine. The fringes will always say stupid shit. How the actual leaders react is what’s important.

Exactly. Simply pointing out your original argument that all of this legitimacy nonsense was a product of the last four years is false. As you point out, it goes much further back. Personally, I think Newt Gingrich gets a lot of credit for putting us on the fractured course we’re on. Many here may disagree but I found this article to be an interesting read & you might too: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/

And before that, the right spent eight years arguing Barack Obama was an illegitimate Muslim born in Kenya. And before THAT, the right spent eight years arguing that Bill Clinton was illegitimate because Ross Perot had given him the 1992 election. Also, Newt was pissed Willy could get a blowjob on the job and he couldn’t. How deep down the rabbit hole do you want to dive for an argument that doesn’t justify what have become truly undemocratic actions by many people calling themselves Republicans?

Every time Sim posts here, I think of this: