Lurker > ElatedVenusaur

I've always tipped ~20% and still do.

People are pretty good about mask use in CT, though not everyone wears them correctly.

Who is Viktor Orban. RIP Alex Trebeck

TommyG663513 posted...

Fix
It
Again
Tony

lol even I've heard that one.

threetimes posted...

Don't do it. I was a gym regular before the pandemic and hated it when a guy I didn't know tried to talk about anything other than something related to equipment use. Also don't touch... they do this too. Ugh.

Eww, touching? Dudes gotta learn respect.

Never attempt to initiate a conversation if the other party is wearing headphones, earphones or earbuds: this is a social signal that they don't want to be disturbed. If you do it accidentally, apologize for disturbing them and leave them alone immediately. In the gym, that probably extends to when some one is actively working out.

Otherwise, it's fine to initiate casual conversation in passing. Be loose, stay casual, don't push things unless she's clearly engaged in talking with you. You can slowly build familiarity just by saying hi in passing or whatever. Don't get all up in her space, don't make her feel like she's being held captive

Edit:

Sheiky-Baby posted... I wouldn't want to get near and talk to anyone right now. Cases are soaring again. And no doubt, most people wouldn't want a stranger to come up to them, to talk to them. Just let me do my workout bro.

This is a great point.

seankimberley42 posted...

I have two answers for this question depending on how its meant.

1. Who is the worst president based upon the events that transpired during their term?

Probably either Jackson or Buchanan.

2. Who would be the worst president to have, given a certain set of events and circumstances.

The answer here is Trump without a doubt. If you thought Buchanan was bad, imagine Trump in his shoes. The same for Jackson, Johnson, Reagan, etc.

Actually, Trump would probably be less damaging than Buchanan was in the same situation, because Trump is stupid and incompetent in a way Buchanan really wasn't. If you have to have evil, it's best that it's woefully incompetent and telegraphs what it's doing in advance.
In Johnson's place, he probably would have been about as bad.
In Jacksons'....LOL. Jackson was pretty nuts, but he was also pretty canny and quite a bit smarter than his opponents gave him credit(Jackson used his reputation to mislead and outmaneuver opposition, which suggests a capability for self-effacement that Trump lacks).

Reagan wasn't a good president, he's just massively overrated due to a (highly successful) propaganda campaign launched in his final years in office. Trump would absolutely be worse than him: he would have engaged in (or enabled) all the same evil, but it's impossible to imagine him giving undocumented immigrants amnesty or negotiating with Gorbachev in good faith.

James Buchanan gleefully celebrated the infamous Dred Scott decision(wherein Chief Justice Robert Taney ruled that not only could slaves not become freed unless freed by their masters, but that they definitionally were not and could never be citizens), as a final resolution to the slavery question. His administration also facilitated the secession of the South and transferred tons of guns, cannons, powder, etc. to military storehouses in the South.

Johnson actively sabotaged Reconstruction and apparently promoted all kinds of bizarre conspiracy theories. The Radical Republicans attempted to impeach him, but the Senate acquitted him by one (Moderate Republican) vote. Some of the moderates believed he would learn his lesson, but then Johnson turned around and issued a blanket pardon of all Confederates, which enabled them to immediately get back into politics(in the normal way, not just Klan domestic terrorism), which ultimately enabled the old Southern elite to restore itself to power.

Having a coffee-based drink with brunch is awesome. Mimosas are good too.
Also I drank some sake Friday morning when it had become clear Trump lost.

Tea. I'll have 3-4 cups of tea today.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/07/10/elissa-slotkin-congress-trump-351513
Elissa Slotkin won re-election, FYI.

Balrog0 posted...

Small progresssive policy victories like raising the minimum wage don't mean anything about progresssive politics. I checked and the Florida Democrats largely did support the minimum wage proposal and it didn't help them at all I have been involved in two such campaigns here in Arkansas and they were successful and it didn't help the Democrats that ran on it here either

I just really don't see the evidence that there's some progresssive voteshare out waiting to be got, or at least, endorsing policies that poll well probably won't get you there

My argument would be that people overestimate the harm of such positions. In fact, supportinga $15 minimum wage is unlikely to hurt you anywhere. If the Florida Democrats made a mistake, it was perhaps in not centering it.
In any case, there are no silver bullets which will magically enable political victory, whether they be centrist or leftist.

brestugo posted...

@Rika_Furude

My coworker did this. Guess it's enough of a problem somewhere that someone had to make a sign.

I suspect that customers do that in the Ladies' Room. Really, I cannot emphasize enough the contrast between the Team Member Ladies' Room(which is always in good shape) and the Customer Ladies' Room(which, more often than not, is a piss-soaked nightmare). I only assume the type of bougie housewife who frequents a Whole Foods considers her ass too good for the seat of a public restroom's toilet, thereby rendering it a nightmare for anyone else who might need to use it.

But, anyway, pee however you feel most comfortable doing. I like to sit and scroll through my phone, myself, but seeing that customer ladies' room makes me feel relieved that I can do it standing(and it's handy when you need to be in and out, in any case).

Let's, uh, get some actual non-troll content in here, shall we?
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/11/rashida-tlaib-progressives-election-435877

We're not going to be successful if we're silencing districts like mine, said Tlaib, who told her colleagues something similar during a contentious call last week. Me not being able to speak on behalf of many of my neighbors right now, many of which are black neighbors, means me being silenced. I can't be silent.
We are not interested in unity that asks people to sacrifice their freedom and their rights any longer, said Tlaib, whose Michigan district is among the poorest in the country. And if we truly want to unify our country, we have to really respect every single voice. We say that so willingly when we talk about Trump supporters, but we don't say that willingly for my Black and brown neighbors and from LGBTQ neighbors or marginalized people.

And another good chunk:

If [voters] can walk past blighted homes and school closures and pollution to vote for Biden-Harris, when they feel like they don't have anything else, they deserve to be heard, Tlaib said, choking up as she expressed frustration near the end of an interview this week. I cant believe that people are asking them to be quiet.

Rashida Tlaib is great, IMO.

ThePurrrfectMan posted...

He just wants to go out and do his stupid redneck rallies forever.

It's this. The dude's a narcissist, and really feeds on the energy of a crowd of thousands cheering him and hanging on his every word. He won't let go of that, even if he is ultimately unsuccessful in his attempt to subvert democracy, unless it's taken away from him.

averagejoel posted...

Focus Sash prevents Pokemon from being OHKO'd if they have full health, yes. I'm not sure what effect it has on OHKO moves though

It does: apparently, OHKO attacks work by doing 100% of the target's HP in damage. So the Focus Sash is basically the Sturdy ability in item form(I'm not sure, but I think there was at least one gen in which the Focus Sash existed as it does, but Sturdy only protected specifically against OHKO attacks and not garden-variety one-shots.)

https://twitter.com/cooperboyar/status/1326197323987374082
Weirdly, Doug Jones(now former Senator from Alabama) disagrees, and has a similar diagnosis to the one offered by AOC.
I feel obligated to share this because I once intimated he could be the next Claire McCaskill, but this take alone is probably better than anything she's ever come up with.

Protopet posted...

Anything with the Sturdy ability unless they changed it.

They did buff Sturdy: now a pokemon with Sturdy will survive any attack that would KO it in one hit IF they had full health, in addition to being immune to OHKO attacks.

Yeah, the resolution of Season 6 is really weak and actually turned me off the series for a long time.
But never fear: you'll soon be into one of the show's strongest stretches.

Bernie would be happy if the Dems wielded their power to pass legislation and appoint judges to help address our many problems, even if that legislation is ultimately inadequate. Joe Manchin has literally said they shouldn't pass anything outside of reconciliation.

Questionmarktarius posted...

What happens when we run out of greek letters?

I guess they'll have to find another alphabet. Cyrillic? Arabic?(that would be funny) Hanzi? Sanskrit? Mayan?

Edit: Oooh: how about sky/storm gods? Hurricane Zeus. Hurricane Nut. Hurricane Thor. Hurricane Tengri. Hurricane Tezcatlipoca!

paerarru posted...

To be fair it was Morales's bad idea to run four times. You can't do that, you have to learn to do things democratically. You can't give the pigs any excuse to discredit you, that's like their whole game nowadays. This is the real meaning of staying vigilant.

Actually, the Supreme Court said he could and so did the Bolivian people.
But its really weird how youre conveniently leaving off where you are and not even addressing the brutal, anti-democratic conduct of the coup government.

And the mask comes OFF.

Alpha218 posted...

Joe Manchin's stances on a lot of things sucks, but if it wasn't him, it would 100% be a Republican in that seat instead

That would be better than the Democrats propping up and enabling...this.
Joe Manchin is literally an obstacle to his supposed party wielding political power in ways that would help his constituents.
We have to stop tolerating this behavior just because he has a D next to his name.

So, what are they going to use the money on? Because there are plenty of good ways to use it....and plenty of dumb ways to use it.

Vyrulisse posted...

Surely with less police presence LA will become a Utopia... right?

Weird how this logic is never applied to anything but law enforcement.

Also, to add to the above: Fire types and Pokemon with the Water Veil ability are immune to burns, while Poison types, Steel types, Pokemon with the Immunity and Comatose abilities, and Meteor Form Minior are immune to being poisoned unless the attacker has the Corrosion ability, currently only possessed by Salandit and Salazzle.
Additionally, Pokemon with the ability Poison Heal reverse the effect of poison: they regain 1/8 of their HP per turn("bad" poison is rendered normal poison, in their case) when "afflicted" with poison status.

Solid Sonic posted...

I'm of the opinion that Venuzuela's government didn't fall apart because of socialism strictly but mostly down to pure incompetence and corruption.

Now if you want to argue those two things aren't separate we can go down that route.

Yeah, the problem for Venezuela is that Chavez went all-in on oil(rather than investing in and expanding other sectors as a hedge against, say...the price of oil crashing) and also was fairly authoritarian.

Maduro is a less adept and charismatic politician than Chavez was, but he has a firm grip on power, and promising to "liberalize" the economy(i.e. sell off the oil for foreign interests in order to line their pockets) is *not* a wise move for those seeking to restore democracy.

Trump probably wins in a landslide if he had done the bare minimum to contain the virus and maybe look sad talking about all the death and suffering.
But, of course, he couldnt even make it over that bar.

The Senator from MBNA is definitely going to take the big corporations to task.

Antifar posted...

Returns is the verb you're seeking.

Mmm, and it was working pretty great for them before.
Hopefully Biden wont coup this government hell def try lol

JohnnyMnemonic posted...

No, he'll just make better cages.

And let children be put into the cages with their families. Progress!

Biden is a dumpster full of rotting garbage, but Trump is the same dumpster, just on fire. The former sucks, but is undeniably better than the latter.
I just wish people wouldnt insist that we cant empty and deodorize the dumpster.

Hopefully we can get Ro Khanna in there somehow.

I am deeply disturbed that anyone feels this strongly positive about Joe Biden.

"A" murder? I feel like Rahm has probably done worse than that.
In any case, it must be nice, being a member of our political elite: the price for failure is making millions of dollars giving the dumbest, stalest takes and passing them off as "political analysis".

Ilhan Omar is ineligible though: she was born in Somalia. Rashida Tlaib was born in Detroit; however, so she would be eligible.

We were baddies even before we split from the British. I mean, you can certainly blame the British for raising us like that, being baddies themselves, but one of the major tension points leading to the American Revolution was their unwillingness to let Americans settle in the western territories seized from France, so, I mean, at some point we just have to admit we could have chosen differently, but still chose to do evil.
We can still choose differently.

https://i.imgur.com/mBbGGt2.png
Here's an example of what I talked about.
If you're wondering, the current margins in those races...
-10.3
-19.6 lol Amy McGrath is so bad at this
+2.8
-8.9

Like, to put it in perspective, Marquita Bradshaw in TN had zero name rec pre-election, raised a tiny fraction of what McGrath did and only lost by ~3 points more.

I'm both disgusted and genuinely impressed by the Lincoln Project. The #resistance types were so eager to believe there were Republicans who had "come to their senses"(as Biden himself has asserted will happen when Trump loses LOL), while completely missing the obvious: they agreed with everything Trump was doing, they just wanted some one who was more competent and genteel to be doing the fascism.
Truly, it seems their project was a wild success.

Shadowplay posted...

Christ, people are still bitching about Bernie?

Anything to deflect blame from their leaders.

We'll have to wait for the final counts to assess just how (in)accurate the polls were, but they were definitely way off on some states: Biden's lead in Wisconsin, for example, was outside the lower bound of margin for error in most polls, and they basically completely blew Florida. Texas was also nowhere near as close as most polls suggested, and Biden never had a chance in Iowa.
They did worse in the Senate and House. (Fun fact: the Dems outspent Republicans in all of the highest-profile Senate races. So far, Mark Kelly in Arizona is the only Dem to win, though they admittedly still have a shot at both GA seats).

I couldnt do anything for my birthday other than eat some (really good) take-out with my parents.
It was weird, because I celebrated one of my best friends birthdays just a month before, all normal like(he has an early March birthday).

BakonBitz posted...

Many people assumed it was about mental issues. But now I'm not so sure. Maybe it still is and is entirely unrelated to her being trans.

Being trans is pretty stressful and often feeds stuff like anxiety and depressive disorders, of course.

Stagmar posted...

The question I had when I read it in the paper and I still have is how is remembering the people who died in the world wars political?

Your guess is as good as mine. I personally don't think they care: this about them increasing the amount of control they have over workers and creating more ways they can use to get rid of anyone they deem a troublemaker. They've long used the dress code selectively.

Oh no, as a Whole Foods employee, I can tell you about this, and they've banned any and every symbol that could be construed as political: including rainbows, which were previously allowed. In fact, you cannot wear outfits with more than four colors or anything floral-printed. Or anything that might be commented on. We must all be a blank canvass for customers to project "Whole Foods" on.

This is them responding to employees(like me) who pushed them to allow us to wear BLM stuff(or even just their boiler-plate "Racism has no place here" statement) after Amazon said it supported BLM. It fell apart because most of the co-workers in the group were satisfied when they announced a commission to "look into it". I hate being right.

I feel like it's extremely important to note she didn't do all that by herself. There was an army of people willing to do what was needed in the middle of a pandemic to help educate potential voters, better utilize existing law, and register people to vote.

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1324747809543852034
Here, let me edit in Matty Y's one weekly good take.

This tweet thread is in response to Jim Clyburn and Abby Spanberger blaming the Dems down-ballot losses on the left in a conference call(the latter in particularly had a real primo melty).
Seems like very important context.

In any case, it's quite ironic then that epicenters of protest like Detroit, Minneapolis, Philiadelphia, Atlanta, etc. basically delivered the election to Biden and that voters somehow simultaneously hate progressivism but almost always only punish centrists for it.

Balrog0 posted...
[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Yeah, this is a Pyrrhic victory. We have Joe Biden negotiating with Mitch McConnell. Nothing is going to happen legislatively unless Mitch wants it.

And, of course, 2022 is basically a lock to be an absolute bloodbath.

I'm not happy a smelly old dumpster will be president, even though it's an improvement versus the dumpster that was on fire.

Whose ready for Harris/Buttigieg?
Because that sounds like just the sort of focus-tested soggy plain oatmeal the Dem establishment is sure will be a hit with kids.