Polls: Society & Politics

I've never understood why humans neuter or spay dogs. They say it's to prevent unplanned pet pregnancies and are effective ways to help curb the number of homeless animals that roam the streets each year. The procedures can also reduce the risk of transmitting zoonotic diseases like rabies to humans.

But did you know that human eunuchs also live happier and longer lives? Why is it not ethical to castrate humans and it's okay to neuter dogs? Should we decide after taking them away from their mothers that they aren't allowed to have a family either? Sure we feed and shelter them and dogs will love us because of that alone, but taking away the joy of having a family of their own just feels wrong to me. If you truly love someone or something, why would you take that choice away from them? Those are just my thoughts.

When voters put Obama into the White House in 2008, Republicans set out to make sure they couldn’t govern. Mitch McConnell (R–KY) became Senate minority leader in 2007 and, using the filibuster, stopped most Democratic measures by requiring 60 votes to move anything to a vote.

In 2010 the Supreme Court handed down the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, declaring that corporations and other outside groups could spend as much money as they wanted on elections. Citizens United increased Republican seats in legislative bodies, and in the 2010 midterm elections, Republicans packed state legislatures with their own candidates in time to be in charge of redistricting their states after the 2010 census. Republicans controlled the key states of Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan, as well as other, smaller states, and after the election, they used precise computer models to win previously Democratic House seats.

In the 2012 election, Democrats won the White House decisively, the Senate easily, and a majority of 1.4 million votes for House candidates. Yet Republicans came away with a thirty-three-seat majority in the House of Representatives. And then, with the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, making it harder to protect Democratic voters.

As the Republicans skewed the mechanics of government to favor themselves, their candidates no longer had to worry they would lose general elections but did have to worry about losing primaries to more extreme challengers. So they swung farther and farther to the right, demonizing the Democrats until finally those who remain Republicans have given up on democracy altogether.

The state of politics in the US where everyone is mad and crazy is optional. All we have to do to be rid of it is not vote for it. And I think a lot of former republicans would like to return to a more civilized time.

Always a controversial topic

Maybe it’s my privilege not to have to worry about it. But I have no real thoughts of identity other than my DL.

Kamala Harris backs President Biden's 44.6% capital gains tax proposal, the highest in history. The proposal also includes a 25% tax on unrealized gains for high-net-worth individuals. - x.com/watcherguru/status/1825969543459778766?s=61

Trump insists exporting companies and countries pay tariffs on goods imported into the US

Economists and importers say it's the importers who pay tariffs on imports.

Who is right?