That’s a fair comparison. I don’t think Biden is in this situation, yet. Could be worse - it could be Trump making his own unilateral decisions.

The country was founded in large part as a nation for those escaping oppression and persecution for their beliefs. It was designed to provide everyone certain freedoms the founders claimed to be inalienable.

While this is still an immensely powerful idea, it can not function without guidelines and government involvement.

Two hundred fifty years ago, it made sense for sparsely populated states to operate mostly independent of the federal government. In time, land became more dense and borders dividing populations and cultures and commerce blurred. Now, the entire world is instantly connected.

Somehow, generation after generation, it was not self-evident that all people should be treated equally. The police force and prison system still largely resemble what they were initially intended to do - serve the wealthy and enslave people for profit.

The United States affords everyone the same freedoms and opportunities by way of doing nothing at all. Everyone has the opportunity to work hard and make a fair living for themselves. But some people win the genetic lottery and inherit extra opportunities and extra freedoms.

We all have the freedom to be complete idiots and that’s considered a win.

Our constitution needs to be re-written. In my opinion, it needs to be explicit about what all the citizens of the United States should be afforded: education, health care, clean air and water, shelter, the right to not be lied to by the people who draft and pass legislation impacting our lives, the right to a source of information that’s not subject to special interests.

No. I can’t say I like it. I don’t like how our government is intent on making our lives worse by their inaction. They take more and more of our money while we get less and less in benefits.

We have no leadership. We have influencers and celebrities. Some people complain about globalism because they know we can’t compete on a global scale. People are prejudice of foreigners who take their jobs because they’re complacent with doing as little as possible. Our most successful form of entertainment is ragebait. Who’s helping us progress as a country? Who’s helping to make us smarter and healthier and happier? Who exactly is promoting general welfare and domestic tranquility?

It’s the land of the me and home of maybe. And our constitution supports your freedom to be this way. Some people love that and claim the freedom to do nothing is what makes America great.

A great America, to me, is one built for everyone to prosper, that promotes self-worth and civil respect, that strictly enforces the idea that my freedoms can not be infringed upon by you freedoms or beliefs. A great America is one that doesn’t have elections where you have to vote for the person you dislike the least. Politics should be positively engaging. We should give a damn about our leaders and they should have to deal with consequences of their actions, like anyone else.

Though it’s not perfect, the one thing I really love about America is our immigration policy. It’s the best place on the planet for people to escape for a better life. Our country is built by and thrives because of immigrants. It’s the one thing that has held true for hundreds of years. How we treat immigrants is a sin. How our government fails to properly fund our immigration system is appalling. I believe most people are in support of legal immigration yet they fail to support proper funding of our immigration department. It wreaks of racism and bigotry.

America is, by design, the land of the self-righteous. The only people in favor of that are the self-righteous.

people haven’t been taking politics seriously and have elected unserious people.

This is the inherent flaw. We have a representative government that never intended “people” to take politics seriously. Politics was for the landowners.

An excuse not to interact with people.
“Sorry, my notifications were off while I was busy yesterday and didn’t have a chance to check it”.

If you have something to say, go for it.

Because we know how well things have turned out when courts, such as the Supreme Court, rules on things it believes are “ambiguous”.

Supreme Court Jan. 6 ruling https://archive.is/3YrYN

The obstruction of an official proceeding statute makes it a felony crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison to “obstruct, influence or impede any official proceeding.”

But the law, first passed in the wake of the 2001 Enron scandal, is vague about what constitutes an official proceeding and what conduct would constitute an illegal effort to obstruct one.

the law, as originally conceived in 2002, was intended to criminalize the type of evidence destruction and witness tampering that stymied Congressional investigators during the Enron collapse. It was not meant, they argue, to apply to any form disruptive conduct that interferes with any act of Congress.

But federal prosecutors and lower courts have ruled that the statute’s language is vague enough to encompass the type of disruption that brought the Congressional certification of the 2020 electoral vote to a halt during the Jan. 6 riot.

the court concluded the obstruction charge was only intended to apply in limited circumstances involving tampering with physical evidence. It doesn’t apply to the type of behavior that disrupted Congress’ certification of the 2020 vote, the majority ruled.

If anything, RFK’s election results just skyrocketed.

I fully agree with you but can also point to all of Biden’s accomplishments and say, well, he’s done very well, surprisingly well, thus far. I would much rather say, it’s exciting to have fresh young blood in the White House that best represents the vast diversity of this country and the hope for its future. Being able to easily defend Biden’s presidency isn’t enough, if I’m being honest. But also, I mean do we really have to go over everything that DT fucked?

Worst election ever.

The problem is we’re not given an opportunity to vote for who we want to be president. We vote against who we don’t want.

RANKED. CHOICE. VOTING.

And yet a senile knocking on death’s door old man is still the objectively better option than Donald Trump. I just can’t understand how people have forgotten who this guy is and what he did to screw every American for his own ego and interests.

This debate (which I didn’t watch) was a spectacle. We all know both of these farts are not fair presidential candidates for Americans. It’s disgusting and gut wrenching.

If you’re undecided, all you need to do is bypass your social media feed and biased news sources and search for Trump presidential accomplishments | Biden presidential accomplishment. You can also check Politifact to observe their lies (here’s the result from the debate) and presidential promises kept and broken - Trump | Biden.

The problem is the vast majority of people don’t care or aren’t aware of actual policy and legislation that happens in DC. They go by a vibe. And they go by who’s the best orator (see: Obama). And, yeah, Biden did not pass the vibe check last night. But he’s still that guy you work with whom you hate to be around because he’s awkward and smells bad but he’s not firable because he’s a decent keeps-to-himself dude and gets shit done better than most and your company is better with him than without him.

They probably couldn’t find anyone to do sign language for these two. No one’s gonna sign up for an aneurism.

Wrong article there.

http://archive.today/2024.06.26-230111/https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2024/06/26/wild-boar-has-five-times-more-toxic-pfas-than-humans-allowed-to-eat/

It shows me options to purchase. Season 1 is $20 from Amazon.

That is not a healthy response to reading something on the internet. Hope you can find some peace in your life.

I think a lot of the existing higher prices are largely due to grocery store mega corps price gouging. Smaller markets are more flexible (while paying their staff living wages). Famers markets are still an obscene value. I filled up two bags with produce the other week for $30. Granted, ten years ago that would have been $20.

Also, no one seems to mention the increased prevalence of paying with a card. Every transaction paid with credit or debit is hit with a 2-3% charge from Visa or the POS supplier. Now that so few people are paying with cash, all stores are increasing their prices to cover those costs.

Food inflation was just below 2% before the pandemic and has been just below 3% since last fall (which is roughly double normal food inflation) https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/food-inflation-in-the-united-states/ This article is grossly outdated and the claim of “skyrocketing (meaning, actively increasing) food prices” is flat out wrong.

Quotes from the linked article and this one…

Grimes sees another factor driving up consumers’ perception of higher grocery prices. “What has happened over time is that the quality of food has gone up”. In other words, America’s tastes are too damn high.

According to the study, many are changing their food shopping habits. About 37% say they are now shopping at discount grocers versus big-name supermarkets. About one-quarter of respondents (26%) say they are buying less healthy food for themselves and their families because it is what they can afford.

I’d love to know how many shoppers are continuing to buy processed foods versus learning to cook from produce and proteins. Or how many have started sourcing produce from farmers markets.

Nothing but (arguably) the love for your family should come before properly feeding yourself. It’s food. It’s what we need to survive. Everyone should know how to make a healthy meal from real, cheap, local, seasonal ingredients. I know that’s hard for a lot of people (including my own family) but it should be the case. I can not comprehend people saying they’re buying “less healthy food” to save money. Healthy food is cheap AF - as long as you know how to cook it. I just spent $65 at a fancy produce market in a major city to feed myself for the week.

I’m not arguing that prices aren’t up. But they aren’t still as high as during the pandemic and they certainly are not skyrocketing. It just drives me mad when I see people not taking feeding themselves seriously and then go and blame the government.

I would have thought “Food & Wine” would have at least offered some suggestions or links to “Cheap Weeknight Dinners” or “How to Grocery Shop When You’re Broke” to help people struggling.

Does this work where you live? https://www.justwatch.com/us/search?q=Chuck

Absolutely. Apple, Amazon, Google, Vudu, Movies Anywhere (off the top of my head).

What I recently learned is that some physical discs will come with download codes that can be used, once, on any of these services. I was gifted the Alien box set which was nice but I don’t have a Blu-ray player. The code allowed me to add the films to my iTunes account.

Now, how long I can watch those movies until a license runs out is another question. I’ve yet to find a way to download a movie to disc for backup. Because, technically, you don’t buy a movie, you buy the license to watch it. This is even the case for physical discs.

You’re going to need to be more specific. What movie are you looking for and on what platform?

My initial reason for not having kids was financial. I think a lot of people have learned it may be better to have children later in life when you can properly care for them. I know many people who’ve had their first child in their late-30s and early-40s. My aunt had her first child in her fifties. That’s not something that was common before modern medicine.

I have always had the idea that I would have a kid if and when I met the right person to share parenting with. That hasn’t happened so I’ve had to put some thought into my priorities. It’s not fair to have a child just because it’s what society says you should do or just because you want someone to take care of you when you’re old. It’s so much more than that and I think people should be more mindful of the responsibilities and long term repercussions.

I offered two reasons I personally may regret not having children. I could list several others such as the pure joy of watching them grow into adults and mimic you and your partner. If you want to say that’s selfish, to bring another human into the word to experience a universe of emotion you’d otherwise never experience, I understand that perspective. No argument.

But then I offered that choosing to prioritize your own life is in and of itself a selfish act. It’s more explicitly about you than it is about another person.

Would you disagree that going out to eat by yourself is more of a selfish act than inviting a friend to eat out with you? Sharing an experience is less selfish, no?