The Frankish Reich

No, I don't think it is. But again: it's easy to focus on the margins - competitive adult athletes testing the limits of what it means to have a "women's" competition or league. By generally honoring Pride Month I don't necessarily subscribe to every part of a political agenda, any more than I subscribe to Nation of Islam philosophy just because they also march in the MLK parade.

Thanks for the warning. Sometimes those rainbow intersections pop up overnight. Oooh, you are responding to me again. So glad to see that. You might want to just scroll past those posts that quote me. Maybe you can ask SDS to see if he can include a new "ignore block quotes from certain posters" function. I'm afraid I triggered you again. Or is it just your perpetual state of High Dudgeon?

In other words, people were spoiled by the COVID money giveaways, the work-from-home schedules, etc. As economist Scott Sumner put it: There’s always a price to pay for unsustainable good times, and thus I expect the public’s mood to turn sour in the fall and winter, even as employment recovers—indeed because employment recovers. Someone has to do all those crappy jobs. That's the best explanation I've seen so far for why the economy is very strong by any objective measure, yet people say it's bad. It's been the shocking zap back into the ordinary sucky work world.

Can I just drink a gay beer instead? There seem to be a lot of them now.

Wouldn't the timing suggest that Armenia thinks Russia is particularly weak at this moment (being engaged in their stupid war in Ukraine) and that they seized the opportunity to assert more independence?

Yes, some of Hunter's deals. And absolutely Hunter is a scumbag and a disgrace to America. But that smoking gun type evidence of Joe Biden probably profiting from Hunter's deals? That was all 2017 and 2018.

Think about honoring and even celebrating the progress we have made in America, and the role of all of us regardless of sex/gender in making that happen. I don't see the need to honor and celebrate every black American, but Black History Month is still important.

When he was a private citizen. Just like the other guy.

He just posted exactly the same thing. Now he posts it again, copy/pasting from the embedded tweet. My point was that it was a stupid waste of time that has more to do with JD Vance running to be Trump's VP than with anything else. Which he doesn't refute. Such is the nature of the discourse with a fool. Oh, and don't forget:

3.4% YOY now. The Fed decided some time ago, based on really nothing, that it would target 2 percent. Inflation rates during some notable boom times: Reagan years: 1983: 3.8 1984 (the famous landslide Reagan win): 3.9 Clinton years: 1994: 2.7 1995: 2.5 1996 (Clinton easily reelected): 3.3

There's nothing like running for Vice President in America. It'll make you brag about shooting your puppy. It'll make you kowtow to a creep you once thought was utterly unqualified. It'll make you propose waste of time legislation that won't get anywhere other than on one of your press releases.

I'll give YOU till the end of the month to recognize the difference between respecting people regardless of sex/gender and endorsing absolutely every decision of people who are not in your situation.

When you say rights are from God, you obviously are referring to the Judeo-Christian(-Muslim) god. And so that god gave Americans (and only Americans?) certain rights such as the right to a jury trial in a civil matter? The right against the quartering of soldiers in time of peace? The god whose son schooled us as follows: You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. Doesn't sound like a god who wants you to shoot 'em rather than handing over your shirt.

a/k/a everyone with a 401k

Well, this may explain the intense bitterness and hatred of America

It's a god-given right! God didn't say anything about giving you the right to self-defense unless you've recently smoked crack. Maybe that was in one of those apocryphal books excluded from the standard Bible.

tl;dr The economy is doing great!

Right. Accept the win, move on. But of course that's not what they want to do. They are scared that their "But Hunter!" distraction will go away as a campaign issue.

"God-given right" is what I referred to.

Which would, indeed, be the definition of "corroborated." We learned something this morning. You're welcome.

Corroborated? 🙄

🙄

With all due respect: you have no idea what you're talking about. The security clearance/background check process is intensive. The form itself asks you to disclose things that most people consider completely private. You have to allow them to access your tax records, you have to disclose any illegal drug use in the last 7 years (it used to be in your lifetime), you have to disclose any treatment/therapy for psychological/mental health. And of course for IC jobs, you may need to take a polygraph (junk science in my opinion, but it's still there). Yes, if there is information that you were involved or even present at some kind of major disruption/riot, BLM or January 6 or whatever, you should expect to be questioned intensively about that. In short: You have no idea what you're talking about.

Some very strong pro-Trump arguments here, neatly summarized by Matt Yglesias:

Is it shocking that someone who (according to the interviewer's notes shown in this thread) "planned" to attend a riot is questioned about his intentions? You're asking for a security clearance. You are not entitled to it. I've had them. They ask you a lot of questions about perfectly legal activity that may nonetheless render you unsuitable for handling classified information.