Duncan is asking Democratic voters to consider what the off-ramp for Republican leaders should look like in the waning days of the Trump era.

I certainly don't trust them in any form of leadership. They need to find ways to make amends for the harm they caused before they should expect any level of power or responsibility given to them.

I hope GA can flip blue this cycle & stay there for 2028... But I've lost so much faith in the electorate I'll not hold my breath.

Watch Bluey! It's a kids show, but everyone should watch it.

Here's a long-form interview between a sex researcher and a urologist (MD) about how porn really effects us; both on an individual level; and in aggregate as a society. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEqe5dHuQYE

TLDR: Porn is a bit of an over-stimulation on the brain, but the scale of the effect is similar to caffeine or nicotine. Far less impactful than that of any hard drug like cocaine or heroine. And unlike a chemical stimulant, it's impossible to overdoes. Some people have excessive reactions to watching porn and having it readily available, so things like porn addiction are real and shouldn't be dismissed. But the frequency of this is low (far lower than nicotine, gambling, or alcohol as comparison points) and the severity of such addictions are often minor (addicts skip other social interactions, but are unlikely to go into debt or lose jobs except in the most extreme cases).

There is no strong evidence that early exposure to porn via the internet has significant adverse effects. There are worse effects from exposure to violent content (including violent porn) than pornography in general.

This makes sense as from an evolutionary standpoint seeing other naked humans is expected. It's only recently (in evolutionary time frames) that we'd not expect children to see other naked humans regularly or be unexposed to sex at all until an adult age. From a biological standpoint it makes perfect sense that our brain can handle seeing other people engaged in sexual activity.

“The whole thing is screwed up,” said John Painter, a three-time Trump voter who runs an organic dairy farm in Westfield. “We need people to do the jobs Americans are too spoiled to do.”

With an attitude like that it's no wonder you're having trouble finding people to work for you...

“We moved to H-2A out of necessity,” added Sarah Zost, an orchard grower in Gardners, Pennsylvania. “No one wants to use the program. It’s a paperwork nightmare.”

If only one party had been proposing to fix immigration; only to have their efforts hamstrung by insistence we first "strengthen the border". See reference here: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-collapse-of-bipartisan-immigration-reform-a-guide-for-the-perplexed/

The best chance to enact comprehensive reform came in 2013 during President Barack Obama’s second term, when a bipartisan group of senators dubbed the “Gang of Eight” agreed on a bill that would toughen security at the southern border and make it harder for employers to hire migrants who had entered the U.S. illegally while providing legal status and a path to citizenship for millions of such migrants who had resided in the U.S. for many years. The proposal passed the Senate 68 to 32 with strong bipartisan support. But because it did not enjoy the support of a majority of House Republicans, then-Speaker John Boehner refused to bring it to floor for a vote, and the measure died.

Article doesn't mention pay either...

Imagine the loss in productivity from having so many people fired & quickly re-hired. Not just from those people; but the HR & administrative effort; the re-org of responsibilities among the other employees; and the nonsense time it probably took up in so many "mandatory departmental meetings" discussing what was happening...

Every Republican presidential term in my lifetime has had a recession start. None of the Democratic ones have...

Regan; one started each term. First Bush had one in his term. Clinton had none in his 2 terms. Second Bush had a HUGE one each time (dot com and great recession). Obama had none in his 2 terms. trump had one in his first term (triggered by covid & shutdowns; which his (in)actions intensified...). Biden didn't have one (but; just barely... and only by the official definition [NBER]; he did have two negative real GDP quarters, so one could argue this point). Now we're starting trump's second term, so we'll see (it's pretty clear we'll have a recession within 2 years).

This isn't really debatable unless you ignore the evidence. Stock market and real GDP growth are overall way higher under Democrat presidents. One link for reference (but many more are available): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11127-021-00912-y

The party who's caused a recession every presidential term they've held power in my lifetime... Might cause a recession this time too!?!?

Try to kick the football again Charlie Brown 🤷‍♂️

Hopefully they actually vote.

A photo op that would be so easy to arrange...

The reality of Texas green energy is so detached from the political rhetoric from politicians... The state making the most wind energy has leaders in the capital demonizing it while the state finances (and citizens) clearly benefit. I wish the voters of Texas paid more attention and called out such obvious gaslighting :(

Your vote is sending a signal to future elections. If Ohio has a 20-point red margin, it's unlikely to get any attention from blue candidates. If it has a 5% margin, that changes, and suddenly the next campaign considers spending time & money to try and move the needle.

Remember the old Roman adage: "you're not defeated until you admit defeat". If you don't vote: you've lost. If you vote, you might still lose that election but there's a better chance to win in the future.

A bit of an elaboration on why water towers are used in combination with pumps. Pumps are great for moving a constant amount of water around at whatever rate the pump is designed for (e.g. a small pump will move something like 1 gallon per minute). a big enough pump (or series of smaller pumps) can cause that pumped water to consistently flow at that rate.

The problem is that people don't use water at a constant rate. In the morning, several residents probably all run the shower at the same time. if too many people open the water tap at the same time, a pump will give each just a fraction of what they expect.

But a water tank high up supplies water by gravity, you could open a large number of water taps, and as long as the pipes from the tank are big enough they'd all have the same pressure as if just one opened.

The water is gradually pumped up to the tank no matter if people are using it or not, then when many people want water, they all get it at expected pressures and the tank start to empty. Eventually people close the taps, the tank will slowly start to fill again from the pump.

This same basic design is also how water towers supply water to many single story buildings, it's not a unique engineering feat for skyscrapers, but an adjustment to fit somewhere within the building's footprint.