This is my top interest. The only representative I know that I would trust to listen is Jeff Jackson, but he’s been gerrymandered out of his House seat and is running for NC State attorney general this year. I’ve never seen anyone as transparent and understanding of what his role is supposed to be. Gives me hope that there might be others like him.

Catharsis isn’t the right word. Schadenfreude is for some, but the former, eh, not accurate in connotation

As an aside from the nutcase you responded to, this got me thinking, we generally put political ideals on a spectrum going from communism to socialism to fascism (in an extremely oversimplified example.)

This has got to be more of a field than a spectrum, right? Do you or anyone reading this have resources to better illustrate the differences?

These are all good points. We should also be vigilant, as you highlight, but especially because of the lower court appointees, board of election positions, and others that have been packed with bad faith actors preparing for this moment. It’s McConnell’s last hurrah.

Have they tried holding down the handle until it’s done flushing?

That’s fair. I think we agree that it’s important to emphasize proficiency and responsibility. It needs to be explicit. Otherwise, it just plays into media extremism.

I won’t rule out your point. It’s good to be pragmatic. But I do know that fear isn’t a good leader. I’ll continue with my therapy. It does help. I recommend it to everyone.

I thought the same thing at first lol. Like, woah woah woah.

This is a more compassionate approach. The idea of all or nothing puts a lot of pressure on someone when they’re trying to change. The flip side is that many people can’t moderate and any amount of substance can make them spiral, but start with something that helps them feel the encouragement of others even if they falter from their goals.

The path to sobriety isn’t cut and dry, and this approach will help reduce the shame that’s often felt along the way. Shame can lead people right back into the same patterns that got them where they are. The dehumanizing stigmas don’t go unseen by the people they’re applied to. Those stigmas become internalized and self deprecating in a very hurtful way. We’re our own worst enemies.

Hey, hey. This comes from a place of fear and that’s okay, but recognize it for what it is. Buying guns in fear is what gets people hurt. If you choose to buy a gun for the first time, take proficiency courses. Learn the legal responsibilities that come with it. If you’re genuinely concerned, protect yourself in a responsible way. That may or may not be with a firearm. There are many ways to protect yourself. Take martial arts classes for instance.

This may seem like a wild suggestion, but try therapy. It did wonders for my anxiety. Seriously. I don’t worry as much. I don’t live in fear. I have friends ALL across the political spectrum. We get along fine. We treat each other with love and respect. The news and media drums up fear and excitement for attention. It’s what sells ads.

No life is without pain. We may have fundamental differences in how we view inhumanity, and while I’m sure neither of us want anything to suffer, it’s the end of life that we may disagree. Death doesn’t have to be inhumane or painful though.

That’s 2-3x longer than cows raised for meat from what I understand. That may sound inhumane either way depending on your perspective, but doesn’t mean that they’re treated poorly while alive.

There are things in those books that are demonstrably true, but that doesn’t necessarily prove everything in them just as those things that are demonstrably false don’t necessarily disprove everything in them.

It’s just a matter of not being able to observe, measure, or physically test a god’s existence. From an objective standpoint, believing whether a god exists or not is still just a belief.

I’m only trying to show how a scientific person could compartmentalize their beliefs from their studies and to that end, I think we agree that they aren’t incompatible. What someone chooses to believe after that is up to them, because as you point out, there’s no peer reviewed published evidence one way or another.

The big difference is that many religious beliefs can’t be tested. They are just believed in faith. In science, nothing is believed. It’s all evidence based and tested. A scientist doesn’t have to reconcile their religious beliefs with their scientific ways because their beliefs are outside the realm of the scientific method. They accept that they don’t have a way to measure or test those things.

It just looks ridiculous, doesn’t it? Who would take them seriously?

I saw that and thought, I’ll take two loads right now! No, three!

That’s gross. Paper straws are the way 🤌

Woah woah woah, will someone please think of the cocaine users?

Had I known about this group before… I saw a what looked like a 15ft tall yellow transformer made out of car parts in someone’s front yard in a small community in western North Carolina today. What a missed opportunity!

Maybe but might be a stretch. Defenestration refers to the act of throwing someone/something out of a window. We have to consider the pressure “throwing” instead of sucking you out, which might be acceptable since the pressure inside the plane is greater and ends up pushing you out of the window in it’s escape. From the perspective that you’re sucked out of the window, it doesn’t seem like the definition would apply.