The Salon article is one of the most sensible analysis of Trump's behavior I've ever read. I feel vindicated when he says he's been comparing Trump to Hitler for years. So have I. Back in 2017, other commenters on WaPo or NYT or Oregon Live would pillory me for making such statements. I kept saying over and over, folks, we're in a period right now that's akin to 1930's Germany. I'd get poo pooed. We're right now in 1933, right before Hitler was elected legitimately, then proceed to ..... well, we all know what happened. Folks, we're there. Right now. We've already had our Kristallnacht, that was Jan 6. What more proof do people need to see? Hitler was far younger and spoke (or more like it, yelled) clearly and concisely. We've got word salad dementia don. But dementia don has Stephen Miller behind him, certainly one of the most fearsome people ever to take part in our democratic experiment. McCarthy came close, but Stephen Miller is closer to the levers of actual power. There will be others of his ilk in the new administration. We've lots to fear. We can't allow this train wreck to happen. At this point, I'd support Biden if he refused to relinquish power on January 21, 2025. The country would be better off.

Indeed. Wasn't it the Lt Gov of Texas (yeah, the one who's indicted on fraud charges, that one) who suggested we let the old folks die, and we'll just deal with it. They've lived their lives, time to move on. So, yeah, in Texas at least, where they love, love, love children (or so they say), it would have been completely different. An aside here: I had a medium case of polio in 1955. My left leg was paralyzed, and I had to learn to walk again. With a lot of PT, in about a year, I was out of the brace and walking pretty normally. I do fine, except when I get tired, and then I find myself limping again. So when it comes to vaccines helping people, I'm first in line, knowing what a salvation the polio vaccine was for the country and the world. Kids shouldn't have to go through what I did, and of course, for many it was much worse.

Thanks for helping to make some sense out of the insanity. I'm a computer guy, and understand computers/networking/the web pretty well. But how cryptocurrency accumulates value, or even exactly what a bitcoin physically is, has completely eluded me. Granted, I haven't wasted a lot of brain energy on such foolishness. Knowing how systems operate, and are interconnected, one thing you point out just screams DON"T GET CLOSE TO THIS. That is that there are endless copies of the blockchain, and that it's decentralized. It would take a large essay or a small book to describe why that is such a terrible, terrible idea as a way to store your money. The hazards are endless. You may correct me if I'm wrong, but here's an analogy to how this is working. You live in a medium sized town. There are 30 banks within your geographic area. In the morning, you go to bank A, deposit $1,000. That starts up the "mining" operation. Within hours, all 30 banks know about you, your deposit, what your shoe size is, where your 1st born goes to school, all of it. All 30 banks have access to your funds (you don't think they do, because they are all "secure". Bullshit. Your money is not in the bank you put it in. It's all over town. Now, assuming everyone in the world is honest, that's no problem. Your money and your personal information are respected, and off limits to all but Bank A. Bank A gets robbed, your physical money is now in the hands of the robbers. Bank B burns down. Oh shit. Banks C thru J go off line due to the power grid failing in their area. So now, not only is your physical money gone, the records of it ever having existed are now up in smoke. Take it steps further. You died on the way home, with the deposit information getting lost in the shuffle. Your wife, in severe distress, needs the $1,000 she knew you left with in the morning to put you in the ground. Oh, but you're gone, and there's no record of the money ever existing. And if it did, your wife has no access to it. If this all sounds like a scenario you want to invest in, then great, plug that $1,000 into purchasing bitcoin, hope for the best. What fools.

Oh, I give a damn. I was being totally facetious. These people are friggin' dangerous, that's why I pointed the covid dagger of death his way.

So she believes so strongly in the 2nd amendment she creates a Christmas card with her family adorned not with reindeer antlers like a normal family, rather they're all holding assault rifles. So that part of the constitution, which is really questionable as to whether assault rifles are actually permitted, is ok. But the part that firmly declares the United States of America to be a secular nation, well, that part, not so much. For those wondering just what it says: The first clause in the Bill of Rights states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” This is known as the Establishment clause of the First Amendment. OMG. and she won her district? Wow. Hopefully there's a strong Democrat up against her in the general.

Who is this John White and do we even care what he thinks? Hope he's unvaccinated. Covid, do your job.

Reporting back. Jesus. Reading the lyrics almost made me puke. How the hell did that ever get released. I don't know if it's chauvanistic, but is sure is narcissistic. She's carrying the child, but it's all about him, him, him. Gawd, I wish I hadn't read it, it was almost as bad as listening to it. Jesus.

Guess I never thought of "Having my Baby" as Male Chavinist BS... I'll have to go read the lyrics. I do agree it's a song that induces a gag reflex for sure. So I won't be listening to it to see if I agree with your argument. I did love Pauls' "Catch a Falling Star", and I inherited a box collectors set of his stuff, which I'm trying to sell on Discogs. So far, no takers. I'll report back soon....

Absolutely Nothing, thank god. He was a worthless piece of shit, abandoned my brother and I when we were toddlers, ended up in jail for non payment of child support, and then, when we reunited and got to know him as adults, discovered that he truly was a worthless piece of shit. Maybe one good thing. My brother and I paid attention to life lessons, and made a conscious decision to marry and not get divorced. To only have children when we were ready. To have children we truly wanted. and then to not take off when things got rough. It worked. My brother and I still enjoy our 1st and only wives, we have grown and successful children, who have never been in trouble with the law, who have their own stable marriages, and we now have a gaggle of grandchildren we get to enjoy. Because we stuck it out, and didn't take off!

It was years before the song came out, but as a late teen, I worked with a mid twenties painter in a body shop. He was a tall, well put together, pretty studly kind of guy, very amiable. I met his wife a couple of times. She was a petite little dark haired stunner. He would go home for lunch most days, and return with the biggest smile on his face. I don't think it had anything to do with the sandwiches she was serving. afternoon delight, indeed. When the song did become popular, I too, hated it, but it always reminded me of mr. painter stud.