TriGirl

I don't think he drinks Okay, so I misspoke there. He built/owns/promotes nightclubs, where drinking is a central activity. Additionally, he's a bully, bigot, misogynist, and myriad other qualities even more distasteful to a large segment of the population (including Establishment Evangelicals). See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I heard on NPR this morning a report about how establishment Evangelicals are realizing how their particular brand of Christianity has been hijacked. Okay, that was my interpretation. It's the establishment folks who now want to be called something else, so they won't be associated with the new "Evangelicals" who are rallying behind Trump -- a bigot, bully, "divorced three times," club owner, drinker, etc. They're realizing that those new converts who are subscribing to the title actually espouse "values" counter to what the establishment E's have been preaching. Last comment in the report: the Evangelical population is realizing they're much smaller than they thought. Well, at least one good thing has come from the Trump phenomenon: establishment Evangelicals have been forced to acknowledge that some segments of their population are not what they think, and are making moves to disassociate from them. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Not to mention, with two parties essentially running the show, the state primaries and caucuses mostly disenfranchise huge portions of the population. In states where only voters registered in the party can vote in that primary (or participate in the caucus), the Independents are left waiting until the general election. I've advocated before for everyone using their write-in rights to express their true desires, but of course, that's never going to get a third candidate elected to the presidency (perhaps some races in smaller congressional districts, or state legislature districts, but still a long shot). With no other source of funding for a third-party candidate to get his or her message out, and convince enough people that they have a chance to compete so that they'd be considered. Of course, that would require a lot more voters in this country actually to pay attention to the candidates' PLANS and proposed POLICIES.... So, bottom line, is that while the system is totally broken, I don't anticipate it will be fixed anytime soon. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

For years McCain built a reputation as a maverick who did his own thinking instead of always following the party line, and I had hope that someday I'd be able to vote for him. Then he got the nomination and immediately became Dubya's best buddy and began campaigning on the principle that he would be Dubya v2.0, (and nominated an ignorant hick as VP). So I believed him and didn't vote for him. +1. I actually wrote him in for two elections. Then what you wrote happened, and I couldn't vote for him. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Why are planting seeds of doubt? Just what are you digging at? "I'm not a spy, but I played one on TV." Yeah, and I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Isn't this a re-write? I remember reading about this kid's dissertation (cited in the article) at least a week ago. I specifically remember it because of the link to authoritarianism -- something I had not thought of before. Since then, I've listened to the candidates from this different perspective, so I've thought of it often enough that the memory of the student's paper and conclusions have stuck with me. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

In another example, my combat camera section (military title for the official documenting photographers and the graphic design/high-volume printing section) uses them. When printing programs for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball, they will print only two or three physical programs per 10-person table. They'll create a QR code for an electronic version, and print the code below the table number. Attendees are much more comfortable with a code from the command's own official printers, I'd imagine. Trusted source and all.

I think it looks great! And I presume you bought it used -- which means you got really lucky (finding something that fits, in great shape, and of colors that are NOT ugly!) Congrats, and enjoy! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

+1. Not to mention, my current job is driving me to drink, and today has been one of those days! (though incidentally for the record, I like a dark beer kept in the cupboard, but served in a cold glass. OP -- this should have been a poll! ) Come and join me and Normiss we just got to the local pub I wish I could make it there! Since I'm stuck here, I just poured a shot from one of the bottles I keep in my office. I'm drinking it with you in spirit! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

+1. Not to mention, my current job is driving me to drink, and today has been one of those days! (though incidentally for the record, I like a dark beer kept in the cupboard, but served in a cold glass. OP -- this should have been a poll! ) See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

The commercial says the product is, "three awesome things combined." Except that the creature they've created to illustrate that is nasty, so I would extend that to the product as well and never even want to try it. It was probably an attempt to compete with Red Bull's "red," "silver," "blue" and "yellow" editions (adding fruit juice), but the advertising failed miserably (at least IMHO). See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

If that was a military presentation or ceremony, I might agree. I don't think there is any possible way to be able to sing it exactly like the guy that wrote it would sing it. If there is, please let me know since I have been doing it wrong since the day I started learning it. What about the cop that sung it opera style at the World Series? Was that a performance? Did he sing every note as it was intended by the composer/writer? Who in your opinion sings it correctly? Just askin.

You forgot one: "The government wants to take away your guns!" See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Not to mention, they're killing their own image with the public. The other situations allowed for so much speculation and criticism over they way things were handled on both sides. In this situation, the knuckleheads are showing their asses all by themselves. And the situation has gone on so long, the general public has been able to get all the information necessary to realize these idiots are just that. Proof: look how many people showed up at the behest of Mr. Bundy Sr, who asked the masses to come out and help the hold-outs resist the authorities. That number would be zero. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

No kidding. She sang it correctly (no "interpretation") and sang it very well. With all the sillyness, stunts and outrageousness that are an integral part of her persona, I forgot how great of a voice she has. There were embellishments, but I found them to be respectful ones, in the liscense of an individual performance. Well done. She can sing that shit! The embellishments still made it a "performance," which it is not supposed to be. The National Anthem, as part of a ceremonial event, is not to be "performed" -- it is to be "sung" or "played." I just can't condone the personalization. It is presented to honor the country, not to draw attention to the presenter. That being said, yes, she has a beautiful voice, and for a performance, I'll admit it was an excellent one. When Jimi Hendrix did his rendition at Woodstock -- in that context, I say, go nuts! That's an appropriate place for a performance (it was part of his set, not a ceremonial lead-in to an event). So, if Lady Gaga wants to perform her version in any other venue and under different circumstances, I would be pleased to hear it again. I also loved her red eye shadow and blue nail polish. She looked great! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Geez, you'd certainly never get on TV. You never know. I had a teacher in high school who was on Jaywalking with Jay Leno and got a pretty simple question wrong. I talked to her afterwards and she told me how she had answered questions for quite a long time and that was the only one she got wrong. She also said that the whole process of being interviewed by Jay Leno, the lights, cameras, etc. were distracting and made it a lot harder to focus. So TriGirl may make one blunder in a long conversation and only see that part on TV. TriGirl may LIKELY have made a blunder. I totally agree with the part of your post I bolded. Being ambushed already puts stress on the person. Not to mention hearing questions like that would make most people more confused, wondering whether they were trick questions, or "did I hear that right?" However, those were ridiculously easy questions, and they did show the same interview subjects failing repeated questions. Could they have given them more of a break off camera before asking the easy, pop-culture questions? Sure. And I have no doubt there were other edits made for entertainment value. But all that aside, seriously, college students should have no excuse for failing the entire string of government and history questions posed. Okay, I didn't mean for that to sound like a rant, but it probably does. I really meant that as a rhetorical, personal opinion/goal.

Sweet, thanks! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Not that program, anyway! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Is it wrong that my first thought was, "man, that Mike Wolf could sure rock a corset!"? See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Obviously your arrogance in interpreting God's plan has blinded you! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Because you have some evidence that the coin tosses were rigged? Wait. Belief isn't evidence? SINCE WHEN? Is it SO HARD TO BELIEVE that maybe God made all the coin tosses go in favor of the candidate He prefers? I mean, imagine the odds! There MUST have been some divine intervention. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

1776 was the year we declared independence. It wasn't recognized (e.g., the British government stopped fighting to get us back under control) until the Treaty of Paris in 1783. It took us until 1787 to ratify a constitution. So, I would have considered that a trick question by the interviewer. Of course, I couldn't reference 1783 readily (had to look that one up), so my answer would have been my first sentence above (emphasis included). See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Outstanding! We have a winner! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Running through the streets in our underwear For hockey fans... See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

^^ This^^ Jack gets fed 2x/day, so I make sure the evening feeding is as late as possible. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!