Nonsense. All of that can be true, but the vast majority of casual drug use never becomes problematic.

I'm so tired of this trope. It could not be more obvious that they're specifically referring to "the left" in an American rather than global context. Do we really need to harp on this every single fucking time?

Well, I'm in my 50s and I still haven't figured it all out. That said, I'm pretty content, so I must be doing something at least somewhat right.

It's a common lie. The reality is that red states score much lower on every objective quality of life metric, while having much higher rates of things like violent crime, addiction and suicide than any blue state let alone any of the US's peer nations in the rest of the developed world. It's not even remotely close. With very few exceptions, the social pathologies we see throughout the US are concentrated in red states. Blue states have problems too, but they tend to be related to the fact that they are highly desirable places to live.

My father in law doesn't like music. He doesn't dislike it either, he's just indifferent. Apart from that he's just your garden variety somewhat-curmudgeonly 80-year-old dude.

Dana Designs Arcflex Terraplane backpack purchased in 1994 at Teton Mountaineering in Jackson Wyoming for $400. I've since used it to travel the world and apart from having had to replace its foam back-liner and a buckle, it is still perfectly sound in every way.

Dana Designs doesn't exist anymore, but the guy and organization behind them is still alive and well and making handmade backpacks in Bozeman Montana under the name "Mystery Ranch."

You can get a Mystery Ranch Arcflex Terraplane that's basically the same thing as the original Dana Arcflex, only made with newer, better materials and technology.

I am a union member so this isn't a thing that happens. If management does something unacceptable, we do a strike authorization vote which, if passed by the membership, starts a clock ticking down to strike time and management knows that they are on notice and need to start negotiations.

All of which is just to say that unions are good for workers, regardless of what kind of bullshit you may have been led to believe.

That 99% claim seems ridiculously high to me. Do you live in Oklahoma or something?

They were wrong. Spaniards are definitely not considered Latino here.

"the US is a Republic not a democracy..."

Thanks for telling us that you don't know WTF you're talking about.

This idea of yours, that republics and democracies are somehow mutually exclusive concepts is a deeply stupid category error that has zero basis in political science (to say nothing of practical reality) and almost always is the redoubt of those who wish to justify the dysfunction of the current status quo.

And your point is? Are you arguing that alarmism isn't called for? That everything is fine and we shouldn't try to mitigate emissions?

Or are you simply arguing that most weather forecasters know very little about climate change so.... I guess I don't know what?

Again, what's your point? Are you just flexing or do you actually have something useful to contribute to the conversation?

Good. Karma just incentivizes the monetization of accounts. Without karma there is less incentive for bots and grifters since visibility/prominence/influence can no longer be bought and sold.