caeron

Always enjoy your Brazil reports.

@KYTOP While I'm a democrat, I have, in fact, voted for republicans in the past. But, the republican party that was is no more. Maybe they're rediscover themselves. I hope so. I couldn't possibly support any republican today. It no longer has any ideas. It is just a mass of screaming infantile rage at the world for not all being stuck in the 1950s. It is a party that has lost the culture war, but is going to burn down as much as it can as it goes. My father is buried in Arlington. My older brother served in multiple combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wanted to serve but wasn't going to lie about not being a faggot to serve. I knew how that would go. But, I really did want to be a career navy officer. They used to talk about all the talent the gay witch hunts lost. They never talked about those of us who looked at it and never chose to join. I really, really want to love this country. Today, I can't. I have been shown how many of my fellow Americans want to be Nazis. I have been show how little compassion many of my fellow Americans have. I can't bring myself to love that truth.

Keying off KYTOP's comments, I tend to agree that education is a mess. I think it is a mess in large part because society devalues it so much. We expect teachers to be miracle workers for shit wages and then justify it by saying they get summers off. Teachers catch heaps of shit from people who can't be bothered to engage with their own children. If any of these parents gave a fuck, they'd know what their kids were learning. A long time ago, women had few career opportunities so whip smart women became teachers for shit wages because they had no other choices. We had great schools on the backs of trapped women. Now they do have other choices, and they take them. I looked into teaching as a second career and laughed at the pay scale. I wasn't expecting much, but it was pathetic enough to make me lose all interest. It is about as easy to become a nurse and earn 50% more, never mind that nurses have many more career opportunities and choices available. Only the most dedicated, or those without much other choice would choose that occupation in my opinion. Building an education that depends on effectively secular nuns is idiotic. Shiny new bombs and guns? Buy them all! Invest in people? What are you a pinko socialist? A Liberal elite? I think the evidence of the consequences of that are everywhere to be seen in US politics. We have deified ignorance. What has been the effect of this new understanding of the state of our education system? The call to ban more books. To teach less of this or that. Nowhere do I read about parents rising up because their children can't do algebra, read another language, write a coherent essay, or the like. No, the rage is all about culture war crap. It isn't about education at all. Rant over.

My reading of the news was that this was an evangelical christian school. Lunacy is practically a requirement. Fun fact, did you know that Jesus was incarnated as a man to die for our sins, but didn't have a pee-pee, because pee-pees are OF THE DEVIL.

That may be true, but will it cost the same as an economy seat? I doubt that.

I have no trouble acknowledging American flaws. They are quite numerous. We're a ridiculously self-righteous nation. We've pretended to high ideals and done many shitty things. But the idea that because America has been an ass repeatedly that all else is ok is moronic. All the sins of the world do not lay at our feet.

Wow. You think that Russians think that Putin is weak? You think we installed him? You think those kids you claim to know volunteered because they think their leader is weak? Do you even listen to yourself? I hope your tin foil hat protects you from the mind control rays. You're too busy diddling your own conspiracy theories to see what's right in front of you. Putin is telling you, repeatedly, with his public words who he is. He is telling you he is a strong man who wants to reclaim the lost Soviet Empire. But, you're rather jerk off to your fantasies about what is happening rather than look at what is right in front of you. Read Putin's own fucking words. Thank you software for the block feature. Like most conspiracy theorists I'm sure you believe you have 'hidden insight' into the unrevealed secrets of the world. It's an essential feature of the conspiracist to self-congratulatorily believe they see what nobody else understands. To the rest of us, you're a crazy person barking at the moon. You've taken a couple of right statements and spun them into a web of utter bullshit. Good bye.

Language is very hard to learn for adults. That part of the mind loses its strength in adulthood. If I ever had a kid to raise, I would make them learn as much language as possible in childhood when the mind is malleable enough that it just all soaks in easily. For us older folks, it is a hard slog to mere incompetence. Fluency is beyond most of us.

War sucks. America's record is nothing to be proud of. We get fed a lot of propaganda about how great and noble and pure we are. We aren't. We're pretty mud splattered with espoused ideals that we frequently fail to live up to. Hell, right now many republicans don't even bother to espouse the ideals of democracy and freedom. But, if you think this is somehow new or different, you're naïve as fuck. We all believe lies about ourselves and always have. But, Putin is a monster, and those in Russia who elected him repeatedly until he became absolute dictator, and then believe the lies they are told get to live the consequences of that. Kids in Russia who volunteer based on their idiocy reap the consequences of that idiocy. Our failings don't excuse other monstrosities. I will never understand people's love of 'strong men'. Why is it that people think that if they give all the power to the biggest bully around that it will end well for anybody except the bully? Our best feature is that whoever the guy in charge is, he never stays long enough to gain enough power to allow him to let his own personal whims command the nation. Hopefully we will keep staggering towards our ideals. At the moment, it feels like we've taken a break to puke in the gutter. I hope we get up and carry on.

practically, I prefer the dispensers. Fiddling with and dropping small bottles in the shower is annoying. On the other hand, The small bottles seem classier somehow. I'm not sure why.

Presidents have a lot less influence on the economy than most americans think. Americans vote as if they did, but they don't. More reason why I have little respect for most american voters. They're idiots who engage in magical thinking and don't have a clue what the policy implications of their choices are.

All of Fox made $1.2B profit last year. I'm pretty sure it will hurt. They'll still suck up to their crazy audience, but they'll be a bit more careful about the gratuitous lying I think.

There is no escaping a lot of pain for Fox on this. The evidence is too damning. They will probably be able to negotiate a cheaper settlement, but cheaper won't be cheap. I am looking forward to their painful comeuppance. Lying sacks of shit.

And sadly, to win the nomination McCain had to soil himself. I lost respect for him for the shit he chose to say to win the nomination. If he had actually stayed honorable, I was considering voting for him. He didn't. It was hard to fault him for it though, since if he hadn't, I don't think he could have won the nomination. That's the growing sickness in the republican base.

perhaps, but I turn 60 this year. I think the biggest change for me was getting very serious about exercise and weight loss. As I got healthier, my ability to perform increased. I do high intensity interval training with a personal trainer 3x a week. I'm lying in a pool of my own sweat when I finish because he pushes me HARD. The results, however, show. But, I know that suffering is critical to maintaining my health after too many years of neglect so I keep at it. I do have high blood pressure and anxiety, but both are pretty well treated with medication.

Most days it's once, but every few weeks or so, I get a real rush of horniness and I can go 4 times a day. The first is best, but they're all good. The Wellbutrin I take seems to have really helped me on that front after a late life ADHD diagnosis.

I see no republican currently considered in play for the 2024 nomination to be better than a demented Biden. As for the Carter statement about our wars, I don't disagree, but let's remember the wars in question were all started by republican neocons with grand delusions of being welcomed as saviors. Those wars were very different than the Ukrainian war. Does any sensible person believe that the Neville Chamberlain approach to Russia's imperial ambitions will work? That Putin will just stop when he gets some more pieces of Ukraine? >>If the Democrat Party cannot find a suitable alternative to Biden then that should make one wonder about the Democratic Party.<< Is there anyone anyone at all that isn't a disaster in the republican party now? In the past, I have occasionally voted for republicans. I can't today, republicans have gone insane. All they are now is culture war crazies and give aways to big corporations. Our nation, indeed the world, is sliding towards fascism and authoritarianism.

I found none when I went a few years ago. A few rub and tug massage places, but only full service I found was on-line. My experience is hardly definitive, but I did look.

We've not yet had a chance to test the homophobia in a general election, but I'm sure they're homophobic too. I'm in a wait and see kind of space, since I don't really know who will emerge as a viable alternative to Biden. I hope someone does. I personally like Elizabeth Warren, but I don't think she can win. PS. Didn't know you were a fellow PDXer (I'm out in the burbs, but still). /wave

I think recent elections have shown that the American electorate is sexist and racist, so white guys still are the best to win an election. My 85 year old mother and her friends are a good example. They all like Biden. I think he merely doesn't blow chunks like a republican would. It sucks, but it may well be he's the best chance to hold onto sanity in America. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll resign or die after re-election and we'll get a chance at a president who isn't a fossil.

A large portion of Americans are gullible idiots. Why should Russians be any different?

I think if you don't pull weeds, the garden gets overrun and crowds out everything else. I don't think you can announce weeds are no longer permitted to be weeds and expect the garden to miraculously recover.

A pay day.

Sorry it didn't work out. Lots of us buy lottery tickets knowing we're unlikely to win, but it's fun to dream and who knows? As long as you don't spend more than you can afford, where's the harm?

Smallpox? Really? When was this app made?