I wonder to what extent this is actually popular. I have a stereotype in mind of small but vehement and politically active groups getting laws like this passed while the majority of voters is opposed but not opposed enough to vote for the other party, but maybe I’m biased because I find the plastic bag ban where I live (not Oregon) so annoying. But not so annoying that I’d vote for a Republican because of it.

In this thread: Americans supporting “Death to America!”

But 500 km (or rather 310 miles since I’m in the USA) is at the upper end of the distance I’d drive. There isn’t a distance for which a train is better than both flying and driving.

Nah if I’m going to shill for any Manhattan grocery store, it will be Fairway. It’s also really expensive but it feels like being in the sort of store you’d go to if you were rich, not like being ripped off. Their cheese counter has prices per 1/4 pound for some of the cheeses but then if you get some $15 per 1/4 pound cheese it will taste so good that you’ll think it was worth it. I haven’t been there in years but I still long for that cheese.

I don’t think that’s actually an unusual conversation for people who live in Manhattan to have. The comments about relative prices are accurate in my experience - I live on the same block as a Gristides and I still never shop there because of how expensive it is, even compared to Whole Foods. I get most of my groceries in Brooklyn on the weekends.

I also know a woman with a whole stack of different credit cards, so she always has the one that gives her the most rewards for whatever specific thing she’s buying. I’m sure she has one for grocery shopping.

I fly because it’s fast, not because I like airplanes. Even the fastest train is way too slow to replace a plane for a long-distance trip. Then for shorter distances cars win out because of how convenient they are. There’s no niche for passenger trains except for commuting into urban areas with no parking.

It doesn’t help that in the USA train tickets seem to cost more than plane tickets. I think I’d still usually fly even if the train was free, so I’m certainly not going to pay extra for a slower method of transportation even if it is a little more comfortable.

Is there a reason to think that Trump may intend to occupy Iran? I’m not aware of any, and therefore I’m not sure why “forever war” involving the USA is seen by some as a significant risk of intervention.

Heh, at least the beans and tofu are good for me. I hate shopping, I hate cooking, and I only buy vegan food so I’m never going to be low-carb, but the funny thing is that I also have high cholesterol because my own body makes way too much of it.

It sounds like he’s talking about American technology used by Israel, not about America acting directly.

The solution for me has been to eat mostly imperishable foods - canned beans, boxed tofu, frozen desserts, grains, etc. That way I can go weeks between trips to the grocery store. (I really don’t like grocery shopping.)

Israel is an ally of the USA but Iran is violently hostile to the USA.

My mother loved Dr. Mario. She would sometimes encourage me to skip school (“Are you sure you feel alright? You look like you might be sick. Maybe you should stay home just in case.”) and we would play it until my ten-year-old self got bored first. However, she had zero interest in even trying any other games.

I’m surprised that water with so much sugar in it can spoil.

“We are not unmindful of the concerns and beliefs raised by the Spa,” wrote Judge M. Margaret McKeown for the 2–1 majority. “Indeed, the Spa may have other avenues to challenge the enforcement action. But whatever recourse it may have, that relief cannot come from the First Amendment.”

I wonder what those avenues might be. This looks like a relatively extreme case, with a nude spa being required to allow a person with a penis into the women’s area, but I still can’t think of how that requirement might be unconstitutional.

I interpret this as a way for Trump to position himself as the “good cop” rather than as a factual description of something that actually happened, or else I would be concerned about how such sensitive secret information is apparently being casually given away to news agencies.

I think many people learned the wrong lesson from GWB’s Iraq War. It was presented as (among other things) a way to stop an enemy of the USA from obtaining nuclear weapons and it was a mistake, so they conclude that using force to stop enemies of the USA from obtaining nuclear weapons is a mistake. However, using force (if necessary) to stop enemies of the USA from obtaining nuclear weapons is a prudent idea and the problem with that Iraq War was that it was not actually fought for that purpose. GWB was the boy who cried wolf but real wolves still exist.

As if human legs aren’t the weird ones - they evolved from feet into hands and then into weird hands that we walk around on and call feet.

The problem with democracy is that you can’t get very far just by telling the voters how they ought to behave. I’m happy that I’m not a politician, because after the last election I don’t respect the majority of American voters. Trying to win their support would be demeaning. However, someone is going to do it, and if he isn’t a Democrat who does care (or acts like he cares) about people like Steve in Wisconsin, he’ll be a Republican instead.

I see a dimetrodon.

I had a dream once in which an ex-girlfriend from years ago who I was still in love with appeared and told me that I would never have her back so I should stop being so obsessed with her. Good advice, perhaps, but not what I feel I deserve in my own dreams…

Now that I think about it, I realize that I can’t remember ever having sex in a dream. So much for dreams as wish fulfillment.