The best parody has truth

There’s a history here. Back with Jimmy Carter, he had a primary challenge from Ted Kennedy. Carter won, but only by 51% to 37%. He was already having trouble of course, but it was just one more thing that hurt him and got Reagan in power. We all know how that went. So now the general practice is to clear the field for the incumbent if they choose to run for reelection. Biden hasn’t been given any special out.

Trump is of course an odd case since he’s not an incumbent, but his grip on the Republican Party gives him a position near to that of an incumbent. He was always by far and away the frontrunner, and every other Republican candidate was for the chattering class.

Especially if that’s food that’s going to negatively impact your own health, like junk food.

Under the Ukrainian constitution, they cannot hold an election while martial law is under effect. Much of the population (a majority?) is either displaced or in an occupied territory.

Sometimes those judgement calls have allowed moderation that is at the very least poorly defined in the rules. I posted one comment complaining about a local protest about the current Palestine-Israel conflict that trashed my university’s library and shuttered it for the next few months. I got a delete-ban over that for a “CHUD Opinion”, which is very much not in the rules. And that is far from the first time that I’ve run into unwritten rules that feel like they’re putting a thumb on the scales.

There are a few types of people that get targeted based on a voter profile, if my tiny amount of phone banking experience matches. There are the people who are probably going to vote for your party, but need a reminder because they are disengaged. Then there are swing voters that actually are on the fence and use a little information about your candidate. Like, most people don’t know much about Biden’s infrastructure package, so list off some projects nearby.

Those 61 prisoners were prosecuted under state law, which the president cannot pardon or commute. It is part of the reason that the business record investigation against Trump has outsized consequences. It was done at the state level, so even if he is reelected there is no question of him pardoning himself.

Likewise with Cop City, it is funded by the Atlanta City Council and private entities. The federal government is not involved from what I can tell.

Mugs! Love me some lead poisoning.

But you can’t just assume those real resources exist, especially if you have just triggered a brain drain and disrupted your economy.

Fiat currency doesn’t work like that. It is a way to hold value so that a potato farmer isn’t exchanging a bushel of potatoes for a dentist appointment. It still needs to be backed by productivity in the economy, otherwise you just get hyperinflation. There is no magic.

So they helped, once they stopped threatening to attack. Minimum standard of decency.

So what you’re saying is that the US can build bridges?

Huh? We are constantly building bridges, what a weird claim. But of course the US is quite capable of launching another space station.

There is already planning to have a replacement in place by then.

That’s not how it works. As long as FPTP exists, it will lock us into two parties. We have had multiple party systems that all demonstrated this principle. Some places are experimenting with alternatives on the state and local level, but it will take time.

Said by a man who ran a country that outlawed all but the party he was prime minister of. He was probably a little salty about criticism over the lack of democracy in his country.

Conflicts over language have been tied to other conflicts (political, cultural, war) for a very long time. Cultural genocide against indigenous people has targeted indigenous language use among young people. Many people in India have objected to the establishment of Hindi as a UN language because they fear it will advance the extinction of their own language. I’m not saying some Replacement Theory bigot kvetching because someone dared speak a language besides English is equivalent. It’s more that language does have a special place in culture in a way that is very common.

Legally, yes. But you’re going to have a bad time if you don’t speak at least some English.

I wouldn’t say it’s a point of pride in the US usually, because it does make life difficult and limited. In the US, a lot of situations simply require English. It means relying on friends and family as translators, so the person can be at their mercy. They also can become very isolated within their immigrant communities while they watch the younger multilingual generations be able to integrate. My impression is that it is usually older people who struggle most learning English that remain in this group. I can’t think of anyone who is even vaguely younger who didn’t make an effort to learn English.

I remember a middle aged Iranian woman who was taking ELL courses at my university. We happen to be at the gym at the same time some nights. I could tell it was a struggle, but she was clearly picking up more of the language.

I used OkCupid for some dates before I found my now husband. It took quite a few dates on my side, but I just considered that par for the course. For him, I was his first date on OkCupid. For that matter, I was the first man that he dated, though he had dated a girl in high school.

Unfortunately, in the decade since we’ve met, I think both straight and gay oriented dating apps have probably taken a turn for the worse. We both had extensive, descriptive profiles and talked for a long time before meeting up. I keep hearing that the gay apps have turned into mostly hookup apps, but I can’t speak for straight apps.