leh-nerd skin-erd

The Chubb group being part of the Russia n cabal is breaking new ground. Rumor is breaking news is forthcoming: Flo from Progressive will be revealed as Flonozka Ivanonovich, head of a Kremlin backed sleeper cell. Trust no one. Question everything.

Mup, I’ll jump in here. I agree with you that there are larger problems than a confused old man screwed up the name of a young lady who’s horrific murder resulted, in part, from the failures of his administration, and administrations past. On the other hand, that’s the way the game is played, and he’s been a key player for decades. He didn’t care enough to commit the name to memory, didn’t care enough to think of her family and the pain it would cause them, or lacked the ability to retain it. Biden was very, very effective as the Scranton tough guy back in the day. His famous “Malarkey” and challenging people to push up contests. One of the funnier things has been to watch rush to his defense as he can no longer handle himself. Bottom line—he &$#@ed it up, will be called on it. He’d be first in line if it was someone else.

George, 311 on the Social Security "Names with gumption!" list. Nikki, 37. Sidebar: Floyd, 718. Haley, Heighleigh, Haylay and all other iterations, 26. On the bright side, I now know a Lincoln, if only virtually!

I agree with this. I think Frank is a very good poster, but this was not his finest work. A few years ago, I was introduced in a professional setting to a lady with three children. She directed her boys to say hello to me, and said "This is Crayden...this is Brayden....and this is Greg.". I was able to recall each name, and address each lad by his name, even while wondering how the **** she came up with Greg. Unorthodox af if you ask me.

There's nothing for me to get over, Frank. You brought your thoughts on the burden of Biden having to unravel the DaVinci code of names to me. I'll go back to my initial point, which is that his flubbing of the name of a young lady he doesn't care about, who's death he likely viewed only as politically inconvenient for him, and who won't give a thought about moving forward is indicative of the dog and pony show these things are. That crosses the political spectrum, and for all those R politicians complicit in the clusterf*ck that is the southern border, they are doing the same thing.

I have exactly as many friends named Lincoln as I do Laken. I'm also going to go out a limb here and assume that if I was giving a speech, viewed by millions, with professional speechwriters doing the heavy lifting, and the knowledge that a particular name was going to be on particular importance, I could solve the mystery that is "Laken". I do appreciate you removing any lingering doubt in your mind that you are indeed an attorney, the checking of the social security admin listing the top 1000 names was quite lawyerly. It doesn't change the fact that "Laken" was the only one he needed to recall. Personally, Frankish, if I were prepping President Biden, I would have recommended he avoid searching the social security website at all, or googling "unorthodox baby names", and simply said "Mr. President, think Lake with an N. Lake-uhnnnn. Lake--uhn. Laken.".

Gerizoppious Konstatovichstein is an unorthodox name. "Laken" and "Riley" would seem to be a walk in the park in a speech by the President to the nation. Complete d-baggery.

My goodness you're closed-minded. You should consider changing your screen name to Comrade Archie Bunker. "Right wing propaganda"? I "entered a female reproductive rights thread"? Based on your approach to issues, you closely approximate the mindset of a 1950s dad getting off second shift at the plant going home and mumbling "My house, my rules!". I offered thoughts on abortion, and the juxtaposition between abortion to birth and a 15 week ban. I don't control how you perceive that, nor your decision to drag Trump into it--that was your choice. I appreciated your feedback on the workaround the French have in place, that's how we learn. Again, I assumed there was a mechanism in place for extreme situations, but that was not the point of my initial post. On doctor's notes, I'm good with my perspective. Your thoughts regarding consultation with multiple doctors, if accurate, only reinforces my belief. Whatever 'pretending' that follows exists only in the four square corners of your mind. On your point on anxiety and depression, I think I was quite clear on my feelings regarding abortion in the 8th month. From the perspective of the pregnant person, I understand. From the perspective of the child, I do not. What can I tell you beyond that? As for the obligatory (::::yaaaaaawnnnnn::::) tax question, my feeling is that with the unfathomable amount of money collected through tax, there's already plenty flowing through the system to address many (if not all) of the important societal issues we face. I would certainly favor, for example, redirecting Biden's student loan boondoggle to assist people in this regard. Would you? Pleasure speaking with you. On some level, I suppose, I missed your three hour lectures.

I don't know Mup, I move in and out of the sunshine of life with people of all types of views, and rarely encounter a problem. The biggest issue in the last few months for me was when my wife and I went to see a movie and some big jumbalaya was sitting in one of our chosen seats. The problem didn't come with jumbalaya, he may well have apologized and moved, but I told my wife we should just sit in some nearby seats. It wasn't about confrontation, or seat elitism, I just did the math and figured he would sit on the other side of our chosen seats, and past us was the remainder of his group. Why have people on both sides blocking me from clear access to the bathroom after drinking my 4 gallon diet coke? Less people near me is my mantra these days. On teachers being paid more...platitudes and emotional handwringing don't do it for me anymore, Mup. Some teachers, imo, obviously should be paid more for the work they do, with better benefits and everything else considered. Others are well compensated when considering the overall time, wage and benefit package that they are entitled to. I don't see that position as controversial or argumentative. Could you and I discuss that without you throwing your Clover Vertica Starbucks Reserve Sundried Ethiopia Kayon Mountain Farm coffee in my face? I bet we could. I've had it with my friend Korey, two years away from retirement after decades as an exceptional math teacher at the local middle school. I didn't watch the Biden infomercial last night, keeping in line with my tradition of not watching most of the infomercials. The Sham-Wow! pitchmen, sit-com stylings, predictable applause, predictable boos, in this case Biden likely standing on the coffin of his deceased son in an act so cringeworthy it makes me wonder what his son might think... all in front of a sh*t ton of extraordinary wealthy people that have the means to avoid the vast majority of problems everyday Americans face with regularity. To really put a bow on, Joe Biden %$##ing up the name of the murdered young lady kind of sums up the whole shebang. It's not for me. Anxiety is good at times, Mup, but sometimes it's just distracting from the things that are good, decent and important in life. It has, and does, for me but I'm working on it. I'm going to recommend a book. "The Subtle Art of Not giving a ****". It's an easy read, a little cheesy in spots, but sends a pretty good message about this sort of thing. Carry on, Muppalup, and just remember, no hot coffee to the face. I'm a cross-between Robert Redford, Steve Buscemi and the original guy from Blues Clues.

"With our newfound prosperity, maybe them kids won't always be after me Lucky Charms." Lucky the Leprechaun, circa 2020

Hey Westy... People believe all sorts of things, especially when they are emotionally vested in whatever is happening. He doesn't subscribe to the official narrative, and if my perception was that people were out to kill and destroy my family members, I might feel the same. In fact, anyone spending anytime on this board at all knows that at any given point in time, someone here (conservative, liberal or even an independent like John from R) is distrustful of what the govt is saying, why they are saying and completely believe in sinister and nefarious intent. I don't believe it, but it's not a stretch to understand why he might.

I would question his assertion that all the bad seeds would simply fade away just based on human nature, but I misread what he said and wanted to acknowledge that. I take him at his word that he believes what he believes.

I misread your initial response with respect to the 67 borders. You were, indeed, clear on that.

This reminds me of the article I cited. It's poetic, I can feel the emotion, but what does it mean in practice? Do you support continued support of Hamas by Palestinians as it currently exists today? If you were in Israel, how much land would you cede to those intent on your destruction? Would it be enough for the extremists? Would it be too much for extremists in Isreal? Are you advocating for Israel to 'give back' 50%, 40%, 35%? As to the 'land you were born in', I'll step off the ledge a bit here (again, I recognize the complexity of who thinks what in that part of the globe) and say the argument/claim of ownership of the land is judged in terms much, much greater than the last hundred years. Do you see a reasonable path for peaceful resolution? From my perspective, the entire conflict boils down to "It's us or them" on both sides of the ledger, and each party is always going to choose "us".

Mornin, Ma'am. I'm around, just stepping back a bit. I used to consider this forum one place to listen/consider unvarnished opinions from the other side. While at times the dialogue got a bit ugly, or feelings got hurt, I took what I could, every now and again learned from it, and moved on. Now, not so much. The French are a complicated people. A reputation for surliness to the non-French. Investing substantial time and effort to riot/loot/burn their cities, which seems like a god-awful amount of work to protest work. The snail thing. And the pretentiousness of "Timothee" is obnoxious, as if throwing an extra E at the end of a name bestows upon an individual some special status for all to behold. He may be the face of his generation, but at the end of the day, don't be fooled by the name that he got, he's just Timeee....eee from the block. On the other hand, I'm not all that complex. If asked, I would have presumed that the French had a fail safe for victims of sexual abuse, or to protect the life of the person carrying the child. That makes sense to me. Beyond that, the story shared above really boils down to this for me: In the scenario where "Kay" was the victim of a sexual assault, I understand why she might decide to terminate the pregnancy; In the scenario where "Kay" was living her best life yet faces "overwhelming mental distress", I understand why she might want to terminate the pregnancy, though for reasons different in scenario #1; In both scenarios, the termination of the life of the child in the 8th month is barbaric from the perspective of the child. In one case, I would understand that the needs of the person carrying the child trumped the rights of the unborn child. In the other, I would see the needs of the child trumping the rights of person carrying the child. I also find it interesting that in both cases, the right to choose is really an illusion. Why the need for a doctor's note, like one is trying to avoid playing dodgeball in gym class in WNY in 1968. Is there a fundamental choice or not? Finally, I want to acknowledge your suggestion that I review your previous posts, and/or reach out to the Mup for clarification if comprehension was a struggle for me. It reminds me for every mansplainer, there's a (wo)mansplainer, and that people are really just people.

Congrats on finding the unicorn, Francis, a politician susceptible to allegations of hypocrisy. Be that as it may, speaking only for me--benefits conferred upon a single mother/IVF patient (conservative, liberal, independent, agnostic) are less of an issue for me than, say, rending a baby, in utero at 37 weeks. Or 32. 25. 35. 20. 18. 40. And so on.

Which is 25 weeks less than many liberal/progressive voters, and 25 weeks and 30 mins +\- less than really progressive progressive folk like a Ralph Northam.

I've stayed out of this dialogue for the most part. What I know about this conflict, International politics and never-ending hostilities could fill a thimble. That said, if I have a tendency to believe one side or the other more frequently, it would be the Israeli side. I recognize both sides play a role in the conflict, that the truth is often in the middle, and that governments lie, manipulate and coerce on a regular basis. There are precious few truly good guys here. From the outside looking in, I'd think the Israeli's care deeply about their hostages, and would love nothing more than to get them back as unscathed as possible at this point. I'd think that applies at the top of the government as well, but the government is pragmatic and understands the likely outcome of all this. On the flip side, I would think the citizens of Gaza feel the same way about loss and pain of their people, those lost in this conflict and those they feel were imprisoned unjustifiably. Their suffering is horrific, and sadly, it seems like that will continue. The difference maker for me here is Hamas, and I believe leadership embraces death, terror and despair as a means of controlling and consolidating power. As the controlling influence in that region for nearly 20 years, I guess the question I come back to is this: What should the ordinary, everyday citizens do about Hamas? Embrace them? Reject them? Negotiate? Here's a link to an opinion piece from New York Magazine: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/10/dont-blame-gazans-for-hamas.html I read this, realize I'm 7 or 8 paragraphs in and can point to nothing of value the author is bringing to the table, and this article seems at least mostly pro-Gaza. I get to the end and no solution seems forthcoming. If I had a friend nearby who was Palestinian, I guess I would ask for his/her opinion and clarity on this issue. Since I don't, I'll ask you. Assume a cease-fire, the release of all hostages and an acceptable number released from Israeli prison today. What happens tomorrow?

So, in France, a woman’s right to choose terminates after the 14th week, at which time the French become pro-life?

It’s weird, but while being educated on this subject, I also feel like there is a pit bull* punching his fist into his paw, circling while I read, ready to pounce. It’s exhilarating and terrifying all at once. *as measured by DNA, 51% or more actual pit bull.

Dr. Pol gets *&*& done and doesn't seem all that stressed out, Mup. For what it's worth, I think you may be a tad too close on this one.

While you were gauging his confidence, he was eating your lunch.

I think he may betting in fergie-bucks, the currency of choice for people who don’t understand odds, or words, like “any”.

I may not know much about gambling, but @Pokebball seems to have called your bluff and you went down like Monica on a Clinton. 🤫

I’m guessing you just finished an episode of “Murder She Wrote”? All you youngsters love that program, I’m told.