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I could make an argument that ignorant voters have always been with us, but what is different today is Rupert Murdoch's proganda machine and its Trumpist toadies spreading lies. January 6 could not have happened without the mass brainwashing. Fox "News" is just as culpable as Trump's Whitehouse crime mob.

I look forward to your brave campaign to have anyone who circumcises their child, or repairs their cleft palate, arrested.

Agreed. I have long been a proponent for a work-visa program that works like this: You show up at the border. They do a biometric check. If you are not a criminal, you are given a work visa and allowed in. No other requirements. You get paid minimum wage (or above) - but you also get taxes withheld at whatever the maximum rate is. You can get a partial refund for those taxes if you file for those taxes, and physically pick up the check at the US embassy of whatever country you came from. Any crimes while in the US and you're banned in the future. If you cross illegally you are also banned in the future.

I'm a little concerned about the just-released opinion on using public funds at religion-sponsored schools. The people who brought the case chose the right example -- Maine has failed to provide public options for all students, and so in some places the parents have only two private options: the secular school which can be funded by vouchers, or the sectarian school that can't. I think the real complaint should have been against the state of Maine for not providing sufficient public options for more students. Unfortunately, at least according to the coverage playing at my office on FOX (CNN is across the room), it's being hyped as saying (all) parochial schools should be eligible for vouchers the same as secular private schools. If this is in fact the decision by the SC, we're in trouble. However, if the majority decision was written in a way to highlight that in THIS case (due to lack of available options for publicly funded education), the religious schools should be eligible for vouchers, but that in general, religious institutions are still not eligible for public funding, then I imagine the FOX analyst is being deliberately selective in her summary. And I actually would be okay with that decision if it is followed up with a timeline or other requirement for Maine to get their affairs in order and establish a few more schools in more rural areas. Otherwise, I would recommend Jewish and Muslim organizations quickly establish similar education institutions and petition for vouchers to support "school choice" and see what happens.

The problem with "illegal immigrants" (they are here illegally), is largely imaginary. Remember the 'refugee convoys' that were coming? How many actually showed up? The claims of 'open borders' is utter bullshit. The idea that illegals can come into the US and get instant 'government assistance' (especially 'while veterans are homeless and starving') is just as bad. But the xenophobes, even the ones on here, don't care about truth. Or reality. They just want someone to blame.

I've always viewed that as a tax on people who are poor at math.

Your definition does not really matter. Some people want to live as well as they can as a different gender from the one that comes most naturally with their genes, or in some cases their genes are not arranged in the standard way. Either way, in the most plain terms, it's no skin off your ass. Why does it upset you and Winsor and some others so? At the same time I also am inpatient with those who look for biological arguments to justify it. There is no justification needed. Just let people alone. Why should you care? The world is not going to fall apart into some abyss of gender dysphoria. The social order will not collapse. Boys will still mostly like girls and girls will still mostly like boys. Nothing will change except that some people will feel less oppressed and more free. Move alone now, there's nothing for you to see here.

Why can't Wiccans, Rastafarians and Satanists have control of their children's publicly funded education as well?

Ah, there's the rub. XX chromosomes? Nope. There are tens of thousands of XY women in the US who don't know they are XY. Female genitalia? Nope. There are even more women who are not Stage 0 on the Prader scale. Presenting as female? There are as many defintions of "presenting" as there are people. Having a uterus? (Yes, one republican anti-woke senator said that that was the definition of a woman - thus making millions of American women into men.) Which is why in a case like this, the people who say 'it's EASY! If you don't automatically know what a woman is you are a JOKE!" are the truly ignorant.

The oceans are rising, the glaciers are retreating, the CO2 levels are increasing the childish arguments keep on coming from the troll and people keep acknowledging him. The world keeps right on turning anyway.

Ahh apples and oranges....they are exactly the same.

That if you suffer making a select few richer, one day maybe you can be rich too.

Brilliant argument. Unless there is a global event, there cannot be global warming. Stunning intellect.

If any of those organizations want to establish a private secondary school and get it accredited, I absolutely advocate for them doing the exact same thing. The quickest and surest way to get these fundies to lose their minds though is by setting up the counter example with a religion they actually take seriously. It's also the only way it gets due consideration by the courts, unfortunately.

The new evidence I have really rules out all the high profile suspects... (not that this evidence is actually needed)

What is "Things that Mitch McConnell will never say'

An avid golfer was involved in a terrible car crash and was rushed to the hospital. Just before he was put under, the surgeon popped in to see him. "I have some good news and some bad news," says the surgeon. "The bad news is that I have to remove your right arm!" "Oh God, no!" cries the man. "My golfing is over! Please Doc, what's the good news?" "The good news is... I have another one to replace it with, but it's a woman's arm and I'll need your permission before I can go ahead with the transplant." "Go for it doc," says the man, "as long as I can play golf again." The operation went well and a year later the man was out on the golf course when he bumped into the surgeon. "Hi, how's the new arm?" asks the surgeon. "Just great," says the golfer. "I'm playing the best golf of my life. My new arm has a much finer touch, and my putting has really improved." "That's great," said the surgeon. "Not only that," continued the golfer, "my handwriting has improved, I've learned how to sew my own clothes and I've even taken up painting landscapes in watercolors." "That's unbelievable!" said the surgeon, "I'm so glad to hear the transplant was such a great success. Are you having any side effects?" "Well, just two, said the golfer, "I have trouble parallel parking, and every time I get an erection I also get a headache."

Truly ignorant voters are our biggest problem.

Well, right there you have the biggest problem facing this country - the truly ignorant.

OK, so we are back to the "AIS women are not women" thing. Ah! So you can't say with certainty what a woman is, not without knowing all the details and exceptions. Sometimes there are women who do not meet your definition! Special cases and whatnot. Thank you for admitting that. You may now return to mocking KBJ for doing exactly what you just did above. She just did it with fewer words.

I talked to TC recently about where the case is headed, forensically and otherwise. Tom said lots of new material on Rackstraw has emerged as a result of his 40 member team's new work. So stay tuned. I got the impression Tom is bearing down 'hard' on Rackstraw based on new information. ............................................. I like to talk to people directly rather than conjecture.

That’s how they will educate their children so that they succeed here. Like immigrants have always done.

I can’t say. But I know one when I see one.

Just tell everyone you're Mike Tysons sparring partner.

From what I’ve read, the Baby Boomers are the last generation in the US with a pretty good chance of having it better than our parents across the board. We had more heavily subsidized universities (therefore cheaper relative cost for college); housing was way more affordable on average, and when we were young workers, the pay scales weren’t quite as skewed towards the CEOs and C-suite types, so frankly there was more left for more general workers. There are still opportunities, but now they’re not waiting, they have to be sought with more diligence and luck. Wendy P.

Not sure if this is the best place for this, but it's the closest to the top - How can you be certain Trump was behind the insurrection attempt? Because it failed. Not mine, but definitely worth sharing.

That's largely because the 'definitions' were set by the majority, no matter what the oppressed minorities (that the words applied to) said. Now that 'old white guys' aren't in absolute charge, the definitions that THEY insisted on using are no longer absolute.

More than anything this is the biggest problem right now. We need more brown folks from the south to do the menial jobs no one here wants.

I just use my fingertips to strip away rotted rubber. Rubber rots out after 3 years in the California desert. A related problem is that rubber reacts chemically with brass grommets ... even nickel-plated brass grommets.

Fair enough. Thanks. I have my doubts too. The escort thing could just be someone who looks a lot like her. And I freely admit that this is one of those 'I want it to be true because I dislike her a LOT' sort of things.

One of the central themes of CRT - and one of the reasons that so many on the right are violently opposed to it - is that some racism is structural and not individual. In other words, the guy at the bank who is implementing redlining may not be racist (and has a black friend, and supports civil rights etc) - but the structure itself causes racist outcomes. This is anathema to many conservatives who feel as long as THEY are not being racist, there is no racism, and therefore nothing to fix. And if you are trying to fix something given that they are not racist, you're a demented social justice warrior who is actually the real racist, because you are trying to help people who, by conservative definitions, do not need any help. Winsor regularly posts along these lines. So they create a carciature that's easier to attack. FOX and Breitbart have the clown-car carciature down to a science - as soon as an old claim loses its ability to outrage, a new one pops out of the back of the car. CRT is racist! CRT teaches white kids to hate themselves. Why, my poor daughter cried for weeks when her teacher blah blah blah. Oh was that story fake? Then CRT is intolerance, and will divide America! The intolerance claim is especially funny. After living with being literally enslaved for a few hundred years, then treated as non-citizens for decades, then as an official government-sanctioned underclass for decades more, black people now hear that conservatives will not stand for intolerance when it might be directed at them.

It's quite simple. He has Jewish roots, and thus the history of Judaism is both nuanced and complex. Sure, there are sections of the Old Testament that call for the troops of Moses to kill all the non-virgin girls and keep the virgin girls for their own use, and that sure sounds like rape, pedophilia and child massacre, but you have to understand the time that that was written in if you expect anyone to be taken seriously. If not - your one dimensional view of that complex history is a joke. But Mohammed was an insane pedophile, because I read a line of the Koran. And you can't possibly understand what the Israelis have been through unless you've lived it. They have a rich history and you have to interpret their actions through the lens of that history - a history of oppression and homelessness, a history of being targeted by a government for extermination. If you had lived that you'd understand a little better. But black people are just plain nuts if they think we should care about their history of oppression. Who cares? Not me! I'm not racist so there's no racism, and if black people think there is, they are just greedy takers. Inner city youths. No fathers. Welfare queens. And we should cancel CRT, because dredging up the history of racism will just foster division.

Both quotes from the same post. Outstanding Winsor.

Nice try. The Catholic Church (and to a greater or lesser extent its copycat cults) is an exemplar of the "banality of evil." The people who support the institution largely do not get in to the nuts and bolts of the institutions machinations, but are pivotal to its survival. I know/knew people who, after the humiliation of 1918 and the starvation of the early '20s, were supportive of the political system that turned it around and provided prosperity and victory (for a while at least). FWIW, people who have a literal interpretation of the Torah are, by definition, crazy. It's Bronze Age family lore, and its merits are akin to those of the Iliad and other contemporary works. BLM is 100% racist, and its apologists are generally those who qualify as "useful idiots" per Bolshevik definition. Whether their support is based on ignorance, denial, stupidity or a combination thereof, they are pivotal to the success of the organization. Interviews with key BLM personnel make this abundantly clear. "White guilt" is way fucked up. I haven't had any slaves for quite some time now, and don't support anyone who hasn't freed theirs. Having lived in very 'diverse' neighborhoods, I have witnessed more racism and 'oppression' from within the community of concern than from without. For the record, I am not cool with any variant. Your reference to Israel in another thread (I've never been there) suggests that you are projecting. You would be well advised to avoid such a one-dimensional view of complex subjects. BSBD, Winsor

So I am totally interested in your sisters buns but I need more information on yours.

Two bottom buns? I was born with two bottom buns! What does that make me?????? P.S. My sister was also born with two bottom buns. What does that make her?????? Hah! Hah!

But if you don’t understand where the fringe is on one side, and lump in (as an example) everyone who thinks that BLM isn’t completely evil and full of destructive people, into the wacko left. Wendy P.

Says the man who uses the words of the batshit crazy right to justify his dislike of the batshit crazy left.

Both the right and left have their barking mad extremists. I don't see a dimes worth of difference between the batshit crazy denizens of either side.

No silly, those are 'patriots'. They don't count. On a side note, more people have been charged with seditious conspiracy. Former leader of the Proud Boys, and a few others. Don't forget that, at a federal level, the only more serious crime against the country is treason. https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-biden-congress-proud-boys-government-and-politics-7b27b6550bd0f400aa61893df3386f38