Polls: Society & Politics

Many on the right, such as JD Vance, are saying Ukraine should give land to Russia to end the war.

hmmm i think so

Seriously, why are some conversations "privileged"?

Isn't the greater good prosecution of criminal acts?

Why does this privilege not extend to law breaking for civil matters?

Wouldn't it be easier to have a neutral panel or ombudsman familiar with the law to have the ability to waive privilege after hearing the testimony that they are not allowed to divulge but only their decision to waive it or not? Wouldn't that get us closer to Justice?

In 2004 a senior advisor to President George W. Bush famously told journalist Ron Suskind that people like Suskind lived in “the reality-based community.” They believed people could find solutions to problems through careful study of discernible reality. But, the aide continued, Suskind’s worldview was obsolete. “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” the aide said. “We are an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality— judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

We are in a moment when the reality-based community is challenging the ability of the MAGA Republicans to create their own reality.

Central to the worldview of MAGA Republicans is that Democrats are socialists who have destroyed the American economy. Trump calls Harris a “radical-left. Marxist, communist, fascist” and insists the economy is failing.

In Pittsburgh Harris laid out her plan for an “opportunity economy.” She explained that she would lower costs by cutting taxes for the middle class, cutting the red tape that stops housing construction, take on corporate landlords who are hiking rental prices, work with builders and developers to construct 3 million new homes and rentals, help first-time homebuyers with $25,000 down payment assistance, enact a federal ban on corporate price gouging on groceries, invest in innovation by raising the deduction for startup businesses to $50,000, and provide low- or no-interest loans to small businesses that want to expand. "Kamala Harris, Reagan Democrat!” conservative pundit Bill Kristol said after her speech

For his part, Trump has promised an across-the-board tariff of 10% to 20% that billionaire Mark Cuban on the Fox News Channel called “insane” and Quin Hillyer of the Washington Examiner warned would "wreck the economy"

Pregnancy is around 40 weeks.

1 trimester 13 weeks, 2nd 14 to 27 weeks midpoint 20 weeks during 2nd trimester. What about after half developed in week 22?

Note: after 31st week most agreed change laws to ban, it should be a crime.

now i ask: earlier in development?

Ben Franklin once wrote "those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

But he was referring to the gov of the colony of Pennsylvania accepting money from the British Penns to not raise taxes on the Penny family colonial holdings in order to raise money to defend its borders during the French & Indian (Seven Years) War.

But can you really say you're free if you're in danger from crime, for example? If kids have to go to school in de facto prisons with armed guards, bullet proof glass, etc, churches need armed guards, some people saying they only feel safe if they're armed in public, etc are we really free?

Isn't freedom from such fear we need to be armed everywhere and turning schools into fortresses and churches protected by guns true freedom?

Should Bosnia and Herzegovina become a member of the European Union?

I'm hearing theft is high in stores in my area. The more people succeed in theft, the more will join. Why pay for anything, if can get it free? It means the honest people pay for item pay more

Penalties for tax evasion are high... much higher than theft. I'm curious, if someone steals electrical supplies from big box store... I hear that is a big theft item... and tax was due... is that tax theft?

and thus punishable under tax code?

It costs them money to pay for lawyers…but that could be their penance. Those who can’t afford the penance aren’t productive enough.

One is a racist, fraudster, sex assaulter.. who doesn’t know what a tariff is
The other is a moderate corporatist who would safely manage the economy, as Biden did. Do you not look at economic results?

How can a non-operative (non-op) trans woman with a functioning penis navigate everyday life, socially and practically, while living authentically as a woman?

What are the emotional and psychological implications for non-op trans women who use their penis during sex, and how does it impact their sense of femininity?

Does having a penis create a sense of disconnect or conflict with their feminine self-image during intimate experiences for non-op trans women?

*$30,900 = 27,610 Euros

11.6% of people in the U. S. lived BELOW the currently defined OFFICIAL poverty level

The official poverty line as currently defined is "three times the cost of a minimum diet in 1963" – meaning it's measured by how much families spent on food FIVE decades ago. The poverty line DOES NOT account for different regions costs of living.

The poverty line is used as a fundamental tool for people in poverty to receive almost ALL FEDERAL benefits such as housing, food stamps, tuition supplements, school lunches, public transportation subsidy, Medicaid, utility assistance & subsidized child care.

Congress hasn't raised the poverty line because they don't want to be responsible for statistically, but accurately, broadening the definition of poverty and increasing the number of Americans below the line by providing accurate data

Congress also hasn't updated the poverty line to reflect widely varying housing costs in different localities.

In 1963, the median household income covered about 34% of the typical home price. By 2022, this percentage had decreased to just 17%, indicating that home prices have grown more than twice as fast as wages over this period.

Congress has not changed the poverty level baseline because that could be viewed as UNFAIR to people living in a few regions with the lowest housing costs, mainly the rural South & Midwest.

For more info:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/12/09/why-federal-poverty-line-not-effective/10827076002/

After they killed their own border bill because trump whined about having nothing to campaign on if it passed it seems like it shouldn't even be a something worth speculating over in the media. Yet every day I seem to see a new article that talks about the border without mentioning how republicans killed their own border bill because trump whined about having nothing to campaign on if it passed. Are they just going to keep memory holing ut?