I am both disgusted and wanting to try one again. Even though I know damned well I’m getting corn syrup, Jägermeister, eye shadow and Cure songs in my mouth.

Why would you do this to me?!

That’s rather my point! What are we to replace a free market with? Everyone screams SOCIALISM, but no one seems to agree on what that actually means.

Shall we do the literal, textbook definition? State ownership of the means of production? That’s been a complete failure.

What we need is a capitalist economic system, reigned in by:

• Unions, to protect the workers
• Breaking and disallowing monopolies, so they never get so large as to control the government
• Democratic governments who protect us, voted in by an educated electorate

But I repeat myself. I guess the Nordic countries, and most of Europe, who act exactly as I outlined, are failures.

Spell it out then. I am willing to listen, willing to be wrong.

For all the bitching about capitalism, which basically every country on Earth uses for an economic system, we’re missing 3 key things.

• We can have unions under capitalism.
• We can break, or prevent, monopolies under capitalism.
• Our governments can protect us under capitalism.

Everything works fucking great with those 3 ingredients. Imagine that.

I think I might as well, and I’ve taught corporate information security classes.

It’s also true. Aside from the elderly, I’m the only thin person in the waiting room, every time.

People fought drunk driving measures, antilock brakes, seatbelts and airbags.

I’ll ask you the same, do you believe people choose their attractions? Be very careful in your answer. If you say yes, then LGBT is a choice.

I have no clue what MAP is, but can you point to the words that hurt you?

We don’t get to choose who and what we are attracted to. 🤷🏻‍♂️ However, that does not absolve one of immoral actions.

Or do you believe attraction is a choice? You believe people have a choice to be gay or trans? You can’t have it both ways. Pick. One.

Now THAT’S a shower thought. I can’t think of a single athlete that’s crossed over so many decades.

And of course lemmy is spitting, hissing mad.

I was a teen in the 80s, a young adult in the 90s, and overall, America was pretty fucking nice, especially the Clinton years. With the benefit of hindsight you can say we should have fought for X, Y and Z, but we weren’t at war, starving or overrun by fascists. Was a 20-something young man to have foreseen today’s disastrous climate? I was partying and getting laid.

And I have never once in this heard of this, “working in the shadows” bullshit. None of us talk that way, never have, we embraced being disconnected slackers.

If ICE comes, I have no plans to escape alive. Take that as you will.

In America, in most cases, they can’t cross the door frame and can’t touch you unless you cross outside. ’

And if masked men kick the door down? I got that covered best I know how.

Neat! Don’t think I have the energy to do much about it, but that’s a great site, thank you very much!

Weird. In Florida a private concern cannot block a public beach. There are plenty of bougie hotels and condos that have to leave a public path from the road to the water.

I’d hike my happy ass the half-mile every Sunday just to crack a beer and fuck with them. LOL, bet there were enough annoyed people to invade every week if properly motivated.

Not sure what you mean. We talking about the two slightly different creation myths?

Pretty hilarious reading along and the book just starts repeating as if the first couple of chapters didn’t happen. 😁

We have video of this guy doing a gum bump, clear as day, and nothing was said of it but a couple of late night jokes. Raise your hand if you think you would slide on that.

I run Windows but my VPN server is Debian.

Squint real hard and take the beginning of Genesis as a tale of solar/planetary formation followed by evolution, closest origin myth I know of.

“Let there be light.” Solar ignition. Let’s go!

They got the order of life mixed here and there, but at least it started in the sea. Adam and Eve’s curse is by far the most interesting bit.

They eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Let’s say they were apes before that event and look at the curses laid down.

• Now we know good from evil. Bit hard to argue animals are terribly moral, having a concept of good and evil. Other mammals are close, especially emotionally, but nothing like humans.

• Now our heads are swole with brains, painful childbirth follows. Don’t know of any mammals that have such painful, risky births.

• We’re cursed to labor all our days to bring food forth from the ground, when before we were swinging from trees, eating fruit and the occasional howler monkey baby. The invention of agriculture anyone?

• Cast out of the Garden, we can never get any of the above back.

I find it fascinating how many factual points they hit without resorting to, “Big god spooged on mountains and giants came forth and so on and so on.” (Yes, I’m aware of how nuts Genesis gets down the road. I’ve read it a time or two.)

If you really want to confound Christians, point out there’s a second creation myth 3 or 4 pages later, which disagrees with the first.

That’s somebody’s house, somebody with teeth and claws. Do not stick anything in there.

PRO TIP: You can get a clue if an animal hole is inhabited by looking at the ground in front of the entrance. Buncha leaves and crap? Empty. Fresh dirt in a spray? Somebody in there.