The biggest issue is that America is built on the concept that taxes are bad. The whole founding of the country is built on not paying taxes. It’s something kids are taught from a very very young age and even though they are not being directly told that taxes are bad, they are being told how great and important it was to break away from English because they made us pay taxes.

Additionally the taxes that are paid in the USand used terribly. Pretty much no one is happy with how they are allocated. Right wing or left wing. So more taxes just feels like having more blood drained from us while getting nothing good in return.

We need a major tax reform not just an increase or a decrease. I would be happy to pay much higher taxes if I felt the benefits of it. Both for myself and for the people in this country. Instead I know most of what I pay gets wated or lines the pockets of the wealthy.

There is nothing special about him. Assholes like him are a dime a dozen.

The real issue is generations of brainwashing and propaganda. On a micro scale we are individuals with free will and personal responsibility. But on a macro scale, when we are looking at the population as a whole, it’s so compleatly beyond people just being bad. They are like this because they have been conditioned to be like this. Taught to be like this. Turned into this.

I’m not saying that people are not responsible for their choices and actions. I am saying that the problem is so widespread that the we need to address the cause and not get stuck at just being mad at and blaming the individual.

American society now is the result of a fuck ton of social engineering by the wealthy elite trying to extract as much work and money out of the world as possible. We are living in the capitalist dream right now.

Problem is, these businesses are closing because they are not making money there. If a bunch of business we are closing, it means that the mall is dying. Opening up new store is just a bad idea as they will have the same issues. Rent is likely way too high, and mall attendance is way too low.

Unless you have something that will be a big draw for people, it is likely a bad bet. Cofee shops and such are there to serve people shopping in other stores. If foot traffic is down, it won’t work out well.

The simple fact that the governments website is being used as a platform rather then a bipartisan utility is fucking disgusting. Our government makes me ashamed to be an American.

The problem with this simple life is that it’s notthat simple.

The first time they need to repair something or someone has a medical problem reality hits. The little trailer home falls apart more and more every month but they can’t afford the repairs. Food keeps getting more and more expensive. Medical conditions become chronic problems and soon every day is difficult. If they didn’t have a drug problem before they do now. Just to cope with the hardship of being chronicle Ill. Theft and crime are common around you. What little you have is always vulnerable to being taken from you. Life is stressful and difficult. This kind of life is an endless downward slide, and the only way to get out is to claw your way out.

The only way this life is truly simple is if you have money and a lot of it. You can live a simple unemployed life as a trust fund baby. Or if your spouse has a good job and you just stay home and chill.

I want everyone to get what they want. I want people who voted for evil shit to get evil shit done to them. I want people who voted for good shit to have good shit done to them.

I don’t get to decide what’s good and what evil. All I get is to see how it all plays out. If these people keep voting for the right and now their life sucks because of the politicians they voted for then they are just getting what they asked for. The only sad part is everyone else who didn’t vote that way is also dealing with it.

Some are. But unless they are in a truly rural area, that is just not true. According to recent numbers 80% of people in America live in urban areas.

Those urban areas, while often not designed for bicycles are a lot more frindly to bicycles then true rural areas. Saying kids are trapped untill they have a car wrong most of the time. Yeah they may have to bike or walk a few miles to get anywhere but that’s not a big deal.

The people living in true rural America truly do not have the ability to do so. But again, that’s less then a quarter of the populations and likely far less then a quarter of all kids.

We have a culture that prioritizes physical comfort above most other things. A car is more comfortable so that is what most people what to do.

Did you talk to the insurance adjuster to increase their payout?

What they first offer you is just that, an offer. You can absolutely come back and say fuck off the car is worth more you just need to be able to provide proof.

They try and pay as little as possible. Never take their first offer.

My car was totaled recently. Fucking loved that car. They first offered me 19k for it. I found similar cars for sale for 24k. Same year. Same trim, close miles. They argued that what I see is the listing price not what they actually sold for.

I told them to fuck off 19k will not buy me a replacement and if they can find me a similar car that a dealer will actually sell for 19k locally I will take the 19k. Took them a week to come back to me and they offered me 22k. I told them I just put new tires on the car and gave receipts from a month ago. They upped it to 23k. +Tax and title.

Point is, it’s a nagitiation. They will try and screw you if they can. Don’t let them

Also. They owe you for taxes. That’s IN ADDITION to the value of the car. So if they say the car is 20k according to them. Make sure you are getting roughly 21.5k from them.

Huge trucks make sense as work vehicles when the job requires that you haul or tow huge amounts of heavy equipment or materials. That is a pretty small percentage of the population. Lifted vehicles make sense if you need to go off-roading. Only way a huge lifted truck is reasonable is if you need to off-road with thousands of pounds of materials and equipment.

I can’t imagine many people have any real need for that. Non compact trucks shild require an additional license, and be taxed very heavily or require extra expensive registrations with the ability to write most of that off come tax season for people who’s work requires it.

Bob in accounting does not need a lifted F450. Bob in accounting is a huge hazard to everyone else on the road every time he drives it to work and back home and to gym 2 times a week.

They don’t mean the underside.

They mean smooth on the inside. The bottom as In where tu out your food to cook.

You are not wrong to not care about sex and romantic relationships. If that is how you are happy. And I mean truly happy. Not lying to yourself because the grapes are sour anyways. Then there is nothing wrong with it. We are all wired In different way and enjoy different things.

Having said that, you are the minority.

Humans by design seek sex and romantic intimacy. The vast majority of people place a lot of importance on it. It’s not just about the physical act or the pleasure of it, it’s the intimacy, the trust, the closeness. It’s being able to be truly exposed and vulnerable, and having your partner be just as exposed and vulnerable. It’s being able to give pleasure and accept pleasure. Our brains become flooded with feel good chemicals. Humans are typically wired to want sex.

My point is, no one should judge you or look down on you for living the way you want. Some people will, but they are ass hats and you should ignore them. But In the same way you should understand that most people get A LOT out of sex, especially good sex.

Slavery wasn’t a white thing. Slavery was an everyone thing. At some point in time pretty much every culture and skin color participated in and benefited from slavery. Reducing slavery to only white owners and black slaves is incredibly incorrect, and teaching slavery like that is absolutely going to brainwash our kids.

But the big caviat here is that the discussion was specifically about slavery in the United States of America. In the US. It was almost exclusively white people that owned slaves.

It’s not about blaming everything bad on white people. It’s about remembering OUR history, and the history of THIS country, is built on racism and white supremacy and we should teach our kids that.

She is intentionaly arguing in bad faith to lie and misinformation people.

It’s not a dumb talking point at all. The wait times are massively important as they are your actual access to said healthcare.

You do not have access to any healthcare if the wait times are so long that by the time you see the doctor you are iether recovered or dead.

The issue with wait times are multifaceted and can’t be fixed by switching to a different payment scheme. It has to do with hospital admin that cut costs at every opportunity. It has to do with the ACGMEs stranglehold on the amount of new doctors getting a medical licence comming in. It has to do with how few doctors are going into the lower paying specialties.

Wait times are different depending on the area, the procedure, and necessity but they are also so what based on luck.

Go into an ER because of a heart attack on a slow night and you get immediate treatment. Go in with the same issue on a busy night when they just had 3 GSWs dropped of at the ER doors, a cardiac arrest In progress, a CVA, and 5 psychs all in the ER right now. Not to mention a handful of incoming ambulances, and you will get the same treatment but much slower.

You spend a few hours in triage then finally get a room inside. Another twenty minutes before a nurse sees you. Another hour before a doctor. They run an EKG and labs in the meanwhile. You are having an NSTEMI.

After you get out of the ER. You spend a day in a hospital room for observation. They didn’t really do anything but you are feeling a bit better on your own. They tell you, you need to go to a cardiologist.

The hospital tried to find you one to transfer you there directly, but no cardiologist within 250 miles has any opening so they spend a few days looking and nothing comes up. You get discharged. You still need to see a cardiologist.

You call around and find which ones are covered by your insurence. You call their offices and they say they are booked out for 4 months. But you can be put on a wait list. There are only 20 other people on the wait-list before you. Maybe you will get lucky.

You where not lucky. 4 months later you finally get seen by the cardiologist. They discover that you now have left sided heart failure which could have been avoided if you just saw them sooner and got a stent placed. Now you are diagnosed with CHF which you will struggle with for the rest of your life.

Now you have to get regular checkup with your primary care provider but also with th cardiologist to keep an eye on things. You make sure to call 4 months in advance because that’s how far out they are booking appointments right now.

You have an appointment comming up in only a month, but your realy not feeling well. You are worried that it’s your heart again. You can’t seem to catch your breath and your body feels slow and heavy. You call your primary care doctor and they say, no we can’t see you. You have to go to the ER. You go to the ER. They run an EKG and basic labs. Everything comes back ok. Your ER doc says nothing I can do, go see your cardiologist.

You call your cardiologist and they say appointment in 3 months but if it gets worse, go to the ER. You call your Primary care and ask if they can move your appointment up. They say no. And they canceled your next appointment when you called because you where going to the ER so they figured you didn’t need it. The slot has already been given to someone else. But they will squeeze you in asap. Appintmet set a month from now.

This is the cycle that people live and die in.

Time matters. In an emergency, but also in routine daily care. Sure everyone makes appointment, but the problem is there are no open appointments for months.

If I get the flu and want to see my primary care provider to get diagnosed and get some antivirals it will be at minimum 2 weeks before I can see her. That’s the closest appointment. By then I don’t have the flu anymore and it’s pointless. What if I was old and unhealthy and that flu nearly killed me? Now I go to the ER and tie up emergency resources all because I could not get in to see my normal doctor.

Yes they should. But at the same time completely ignorant people should not. This is too big of a decision to leave up to disinterested and ill informed voters. I don’t care if you are left or right. blue or red.

If you don’t know the basics of how our government works you do not deserve to have a say. If you do not know the basics of what is happening in the country, then you do not deserve to vote.

ANYONE voting should be informed.

How we test for this? i have no idea. There can not be a simple education requirement or literacy test. There are plenty of uneducated people that are very up to date and informed on current politics. There are plenty of very educated people that don’t care about what’s going on and just vote by party.

But just because you have the right to an opinion does not mean your ignorant opinion is worth anything.

Older dudes can absolutely get younger girls. However, they are mostly going to fall into 2 categories. Serious emotional/psychological issues. Or looking for a sugar daddy without as much stigma.

If you are in great shape, have a good personality and a good job, then at 40 you can still pull girls in their 20s without to much trouble. If you let yourself go, and have nothing to show for your age then it will be a lot harder.

The better question is why would you want to? What would you even talk to them about?

Sometimes, getting laid is the best thing for your mental health. She’s not a prostitute she’s a mental health care provider.

Thinner does not equate health, one can not be truly healthy while obese. It is Terrible for your body. Pretty much every organ system is working overtime and struggling. There is inflammation everywhere, your joints are suffering.

The healthy at any size stuff is a massive lie.

Yes, skinny people and regular sized people get sick too. Just like people who don’t smoke can still get lung cancer.

One thing I have found it to be useful for is changing the tone if what I write.

I tend to write very clinicaly because my job involves a lot of that style of writing. I have started asked chat gpt to rephrase what i write in a softer tone.

Not for everything, but for example when Im texting my girlfriend who is feeling insecure. It has helped me a lot! I always read thrugh it to make sure it did not change any of the meaning or add anything, but so far it has been pretty good at changing the tone.

Also use it to rephrase emails at work to make it sound more professional.

I work with a person like that and it’s driving me up a wall.

He starts arguments for the sake of arguments. He is extremely vocal about anything that he knows will cause any sort of disagreement with anyone. Actively looks for ways to pit other people against each other. Endlessly talking shit to and about everyone. Just an annoying, toxic person. Leadership sees him as harmless, but he is a real cause of a lot of drama in the workplace. Usualy not Involving him directly, but often caused or stirred up by him. Motivated entirely by two things, his amusement, and his money. Everyone else just exists in his world to amuse him.

collage educated, smart, reletivly successful. But fucking toxic.

My point is you are absolutly correct. These people exist. They are emotional stunted and live for cause problems for others. It’s kinds funny for a little bit but gets realy fucking old realy fast.

Capitalism doesn’t mean being an asshole. One can be a capitalist and also a decent human being. It’s an economic system not a moral one. Using it as an excuse for being a vile human being is just an easy out.