Ok so can we start with a really rough day of policing election fraud, inciting insurrection, business fraud, not paying suppliers, sexual assault, stealing classified government documents, and shitting your pants in public. Then maybe the word will get out and we won’t have to go further.

… Ok maybe not the last one. That’s just unfair.

Maybe if they weren’t destabilising the world, their citizens might feel happier about bringing children into it.

I know what the point was, but Biden is included as if he is part of some political dynasty. He was VP. A very normal situation, 19 out of 49 have run for president. It’s like being promoted through the ranks until you get to the top. Isn’t that kinda normal in most careers?

So why is it “insanely improbable” for Biden, someone who qualified for the job over decades, to be “chosen” as opposed to anyone else.

We aren’t talking here about how much cash it requires to become president which raises the bar above most people’s head.we are taking about political dynasties.

So I say again, including Biden as if it is some statistical anomaly or stranglehold on politics is disingenuous, especially if you exclude Harris.

Her situation of running for president after serving as vice president is EXACTLY the same as Biden unless you want to split hairs and say he served 2 terms and her only 1. So if you want to say Biden was given a silver spoon, so was she.

Biden is not a dynasty. But if you insist he is, so is Harris, and that makes the original premise flawed.

I don’t think it’s really fair to include “Biden” alongside “Bush” and “Clinton” and NOT include “Harris”, just to make a point. The point is the Bush and Clinton represent two people each, a dynasty as it were. Biden is just one person. You might as well add then Harris since she has served as VP just like Biden, or Trump but I get the feeling this is intended to somehow make the statement that Harris represents a new breed of politics, a break from the old. That may or may not be true, but it doesn’t hinge on this meaningless metric.

“since 1981 there has never been an election without a Bush, Clinton, Biden, Trump or Harris.”

The problem with conservatism though is that their voters will think this is a good thing. Taxes are bad full stop, so these companies are clever by lowering their tax bill. They don’t see that the salaries are obscene. Then they complain about public services and infrastructure being bad.

I love to see free speech absolutism being so unshakable.

Why stop at the supreme Court. Maybe all judges should have this “protection”.

Oh wait but then Donnie would be in jail.

Just be honest Don. You want to jail anyone who disagrees with you.

Surely the day is approaching where enough Americans have been personally affected by gun violence that there are more that have than haven’t. I often wondered if the reason it persists is because it is something that happens to other people so there is no feeling of urgency to put it at the center of politics. But it happens every fucking month??? …wait, I just checked and I’m being too generous with “month”. They happen almost every day. We only seem to hear about them once or twice a month outside America. You guys have them more regularly than sports games.

You think the only reason people could find destructive, violent behaviour to be unusual or difficult to understand is because they have no passion in their own lives?

I’m just a little sad that there are people in the world who have grown up in such violent, loveless homes that they can’t conceive of finding violent behaviour over a sports game disgusting.

I wonder how many of wives and partners who get the shit kicked out of them when their passionate “alpha” male’s favourite team loses would agree with you. Oh it’s OK, he had just lived such a full, passionate life that he sometimes loses his self control for a moment.

How can you possibly think you are on the right side of things as you call in a bomb threat on a school?

I just don’t understand how these people can think their tactics are morally justified.

My question to the politicians…

Has praying been working so far?

School shootings in the USA occur so frequently now that there is very clear evidence that prayer does not prevent them. Therefore , at what point should the strategy be changed to try something else? The most powerful people in the USA claim they have no power to stop this, yet can very significantly curtail abortion access I under the guise of protecting lives.

The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

There have been 416 school shootings since Columbine. Every time prayer is offered by politicians. Every time another school shooting was just around the corner.

You know it doesn’t seem like all that long ago that people were being sued or threatened for playing music in shops or in the back office of a hotel and stuff like that. It might have been urban legend at the time when the music industry was over reacting to Napster, KaZaA, Limewire, Bearshare, etc, etc. but it is true that those venues officially need a license for any music they play in public. So how come a nationwide advertising campaign can make use of music, without the permission of the artist, and not be sued into oblivion by the RIAA? Or does the artist not own the copyright to their own work? Or does the RIAA sympathise more with gentle, kind Billionaires than nasty greedy non billionaires??

Because you are a kid and you don’t know but are pretending to be an adult. Nice try!

Except then the ordinary workers who did nothing wrong are made to suffer. Either they don’t get paid or they lose their jobs. IMHO you make the CEO personally liable. They have the power to change the company attitude and policy. They need to have their personal fortune hit as well as jail time.

I guess it’s “I don’t want to use fossil fuels but I don’t have an alternative. Give me an alternative! Don’t have one? Then I’ll keep using fossil fuels”

In fairness though not using fossil fuels it’s something of a luxury at present. EVs are more expensive that non EVs. Maybe this will change but slowly. Home solar is very expensive and still doesn’t get you self sufficient in most cases. Power companies need to make the grid renewable to make it accessible to the average person for home power.

When Brent Spiner smiles, I see evil. TNG taught me being good is not showing emotion (Data) being bad is smiling (Lore).

So basically upset that the press do their job??

IMO the main reason for the press to exist is to hold people in power accountable for their actions. It doesn’t matter the lengths they go to to get the information or their motivation. There will always be press looking into politics on both sides of the spectrum and we as the public should be glad for it.

You should not excuse bad behaviour just because they are on your team. You should encourage the press to do their job as long as they don’t go too far into harassment, distortion of the truth or digging up irrelevant personal details about someone that affect noone outside that someone.

I really like the line “democracy does in darkness” because it is so true. Political figures who dislike the press generally have something to hide.

If counter with: “We’d be well served to remember the long and cherished tradition of settling criminal matters in the courts.”

Basically they want the right to commit crimes without consequences beyond the possibility of simply not being re-elected… But only for Republican politicians. Democrats should be treated differently.

Even then you can still have someone read the source and write a spec for a second programmer to write a library. The programmer never saw the source code but it was still useful. Still legal to do this. If someone dumped original source into the projector could be similarly checked for duplication without breaking the law.

That would be putting words in my mouth.

Firstly, I think that having been a justice, which is a very distinguished post , they would never have to worry about future employment, it would probably find them. I also think that a job for life means you don’t worry about scrutiny. You can do what you want almost without consequence because you don’t need to worry about what comes next. If no one can fire you, and you don’t need to worry about people being happy with your performance, you can be free so act however you want. In your own interest. In the interest of some benefactor, or should you choose to, in the interest of the people.

Second, I did not say youthfulness it’s important. There is a vast gulf between youthful and aged. I don’t want a 20 year old justice and more than a 70 year old one.

Lastly, expanding it would be great. No arguments here.