Hanaguma

All we have to do is wait for the latest bombshell report. The walls are closing in on former President Trump. Some explosive testimony is in the offing. This must be the beginning of the end..... gee, havent we all heard that some time in the past? The only happy people are CNN and the rest of the democratic-cultural complex. Their ratings are up every time The Donald is mentioned. It has been boring trying to cover Biden for the past 18 months and not fall into a coma. But anything Trump says is instant ratings.

Longtime Japan resident here. The drinking culture HAS changed dramatically in the past 10 years or so. Particularly where women are concerned, a lot of companies are VERY careful about what happens at after work. Any attempt to force people to drink is frowned upon. Some very traditional companies do still follow the old trend, but it is becoming increasingly rare. Among young people/students, they just arent into booze. I am disappointed that I rarely see my students with hangovers. They seem completely addicted to their smart phones instead. Ban the smart phone and the drinking will commence again IMHO.

More than Joe. He has been rocking plugs for more than 30 years.

...or that he was appointed to the US Naval Academy. In fact he got 5 deferments for military service (same as Trump) to avoid going to Vietnam. ...or that he graduated in the top half of his law school class. He was actually ranked 76th out of 85. ...or that you won(t get Covid if you get vaccinated. ...or that this bill will reduce inflation.

The bill was gutted? How so? Considering the Democrats have majorities in both Houses, what could the "party of no" do about it...

It isn't an "investment". "Investment" implies that returns are generated. I "invest" in my retirement funds. I don't "invest" in a new tv or a new car (in spite of what I tell my wife). How about we let smart entrepeneurs do the actual investing in climate technology? The bill is a random wishlist of pork barrel spending. Again, how will it reduce inflation? Biden has already added more than $2 trillion to the national debt. This bill might, perhaps, maybe, will see a miniscule reduction in the deficit 5 years from now, assuming best circumstances and numerous provisions are allowed to expire.

Point is that nobody can afford a new car anyway due to...inflation. Which this bill does nothing to control. Raising taxes on corporations (which will either avoid them or pass them on to consumers) does not help inflation. Neither does extra government spending. How does buying the post office new electric cars help inflation? "Equity grants" for under-treed communities? Please. Basically, IF all these so-called clean energy proposals have merit, they will take off without the shadowed hand of government directing them. EVs included. In the meantime, the govt needs to take their thumb off the scales. Let the energy industry do its thing. Free the US from dependence on foreign oil. How does this bill propose to return the $700 a month the average family is losing due to Bidenflation?

Sure, if you could explain how $366 billion in subsidies to so-called "clean energy" would have any downward impact on inflation, or any positive effect on working people. People whose real income has been zapped by hundreds of dollars a month (thanks to inflation) don't need subsidies on their next $50,000 electric vehicle.

Then why not call it the "Well, At Least Inflation SHOULDN'T Get Worse Act"? Seems that a lot of the media have taken to not even using the correct name of the bill, calling it something like the "climate and health bill".

Appreciate it. Reasonable people can agree on "A", disagree on "B", and have a long chat over beers about "C". You would probably be surprised on what we agree on, but that is never what some people seek to do. Present company excluded, of course!

I find that in this kind of situation, proximity is often a powerful tool. Usually the reprobates sit in the back of the room. So, start teaching from the back or wherever they are all sitting. No need to stay at the front really, is there? This will at least make 2 or 3 of the borderline cases start to modify their behavior. The hardcore ones might take a bit more effort. For them, first get the rest of the class working on something- worksheet, collaborative activity. This removes their (bad kids) audience, and a lot of the reason to act up in class. No audience means no fun. No point trying to look cool if nobody notices. Finally, actually sit down with the baddies. Look at what they are doing if they are playing on their phones. Make a comment or two- "looks fun, can I have a go?" If they are texting, ask, "hey , who are you writing to?" It would take a serious delinquent to keep on doing what they are doing with a big hairy farang sitting beside them. All else fails, document and detail. Dates, times, infractions. Then talk to their homeroom teacher/sports coach if you can. Getting someone else on staff to be on your side can work wonders.

The age of the fetus is actually crucial. It made what the mother/daughter were doing a crime. That may be the compelling reason for FB to release the data. They aren't being prosecuted for having an abortion but for having one far past the range that the law allows in Nebraska. The police were investigating some pretty serious felonies and Facebook was compelled by warrant to comply. FB didn't just volunteer the information. The two were charged with crimes, THEN Facebook was served a warrant to release their records. This wasn't a fishing expedition or malicious act by any means. If the police are investigating crimes that have already led to arrests, it seems reasonable for FB or other social media companies to assist the investigation, especially if forced to do so by court order. Nobody would care if this wasn't a situation that had abortion at it's centre. Here is a local news report; https://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/norfolk-mother-and-daughter-accused-of-illegal-abortion-burning-and-burying-body/article_ff99fd49-a710-5ec3-8d51-5aced3001c71.html

Apologies from this humble colonial regarding my misnomering the phrase. But twisted knackers WOULD be much more painful...

Of course there isn't. It is just the usual hysterics that the former President engenders in his detractors. To be honest, it's quite funny to read. People getting their knackers in a twist (love that phrase, thanks England) over every possible permutation and possibility. The media has been doing their version of Moses wandering in the Sinai for two years now. Trump was the best thing that ever happened to them and they got lazy. When he left office, ratings plummeted. So they (and their friends in Washington) have been constantly on the sniff for anything Trump related. Trying to capture the old magic, so to speak. This situation seems tailor made for them- something to speculate on and rehash for the next month.

The good professor is a civil liberties advocate. He divorces his politics from his legal principles. As he said himself, "I am a liberal Democrat in politics, but a neutral civil libertarian when it comes to the Constitution." and “I’m a strong supporter of Joe Biden. I like Joe Biden. I’ve liked him for a long time, and I could enthusiastically support Joe Biden.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Dershowitz#cite_note-vanityfair-73 He DOES love to get involved in controversial cases, it is true. A definite pot-stirrer. But not a Trump supporter in any meaningful or political sense.

Here is an interesting take from Alan Dershowitz- hardly a supporter of Trump; The decision by the Justice Department to conduct a full-scale morning raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Largo home does not seem justified, based on what we know as of now. If it is true that the basis of the raid was the former president’s alleged removal of classified material from the White House, that would constitute a double standard of justice. There were no raids, for example, on the homes of Hillary Clinton or former Clinton administration national security adviser Sandy Berger for comparable allegations of mishandling official records in the recent past. Previous violations of the Presidential Records Act typically have been punished by administrative fines, not criminal prosecution. Perhaps there are legitimate reasons for applying a different standard to Trump’s conduct, but those are not readily obvious at this stage. The more appropriate action would have been for a grand jury to issue a subpoena for any boxes of material that were seized and for Trump’s private safe that was opened. That would have given Trump’s lawyers the opportunity to challenge the subpoena on various grounds — that some of the material was not classified; that previous classified material was declassified by Trump; that other documents may be covered by various privileges, such as executive or lawyer-client. https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/3594412-justice-department-should-have-subpoenaed-documents-not-raided-trumps-home/

Maybe...........this is it! The bombshell! The walls are closing in!! This is the tipping point!! This is the beginning of the end!! Its like deja vu all over again.

And in Nebraska, you can legally get an abortion up tp 20 weeks. Dont know what is going on here. 28 weeks is a viable baby in most cases.

Don't you think that the prenancy being in its 28th week might have something to do with it? Not many places allow abortions at that advanced stage of pregnancy.

Holy <deleted>! Biden is on tv now, talking up the Chip Act. But my God, he is not well. He is hacking up a lung every 15 seconds, constantly adjusting his shades, and really struggling. The man is not well.

So, you want Biden to get credit for the good jobs number (debatably good since it is just people coming back to work after Covid, rather than actual new jobs created). But on the other hand I imagine you want to explain away ruinously high gas prices and inflation as "out of his control" and "caused by global forces". AmIRite?

I think Americans are also leery of possibly re-electing a man who shakes hands with ghosts and lets the Easter Bunny dictate who he talks to. Not to mention that he is the least accessable president in recent memory. Compared to his predecessors, he is virtually invisible. This from Slate, hardly a right wing mouthpiece: The 46th president (Biden) carried out only 22 media interviews through the end of last year, which is fewer than his six most recent predecessors. And during the time, he has held a mere nine formal news conferences, three of which were held alongside visiting foreign leaders. In contrast, Donald Trump held 22 news conferences and 92 interviews in his first year. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/01/biden-fewer-news-conferences-interviews-first-year.html

...and people wonder why inflation is spiking...

I thought the Lancet was a medical journal, yet the article you quoted is not about Covid. It is a general political hit piece based on leftist tropes and shibboleths. To quote from the article; His appeals to racism, nativism, and religious bigotry have emboldened white nationalists and vigilantes, and encouraged police violence and, at the end of his term in office, insurrection. He chose judges for US courts who are dismissive of affirmative action and reproductive, labour, civil, and voting rights; ordered the mass detention of immigrants in hazardous conditions; and promulgated regulations that reduce access to abortion and contraception in the USA and globally. Does this sound like a scientific article to you?

Gotta say I am puzzled by this too. The economy was cooking along, unemployment down (especially for minorities), low inflation, peace deals in the Middle East, criminal justice reform, booming energy sector.... I get that you didn't like the Bad Orange Man's personality or behavior. I am with you on that. But they were 4 pretty good years for America as a whole.