The state could separately bring criminal charges. Also, the standard in civil court is preponderance of evidence (more likely than not) rather than beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s much easier to meet that in civil court, especially for sexual assault.

There’s a ton of situations where that’s not realistic. If you travel a lot for your job, not doing work when you have downtime like a layover isn’t feasible. Timezones are also a factor, and that may be the only time where all parties could be available. Or they just want to get the work done in the time before their flight so they don’t have to when they get back.

This is a mistake that should surface and get corrected in high school or earlier if the education system is working properly. Around 14 I bombed a writing assignment because my response was all personal feelings rather than reasoning and evidence. My teacher told me he agreed with me personally, but I did not actually complete the assignment as asked. I never did that again. Though I am not entirely convinced this wasn’t deliberate to create a culture war story.

I really agree that communication is where the American “left” is way behind. Both in terms of individual campaigns and as a whole.

The American “right” now has endless well-funded platforms to push messages and narratives. Podcasts, streamers, YouTube channels, news networks, social media accounts, etc. They also embrace AI to increase exponentially the amount of content they can shovel out. And they understand you need to use apolitical or quasi political interests as an entry point.

There are examples on the left of all of these, but not at the same scale and with the same financial backing.

I don’t think anybody really knows. My understanding is the problem is KSA reports unaudited reserve numbers, so you have to take them at their word. There’s a lot of skepticism because they would report unchanged reserve numbers for years despite high exploitation. While they can certainly discover new reserves, it seems unlikely it would consistently be about equal to what they pumped out. I’ve read some analysts think they have less than half of what they report.

You can see some case study examples on their consulting website.

It may also be due to concerns with uptake. Outcomes can be worse at middling vaccination rates with varicella.

I think the reason it’s popular is because it’s “don’t tread on me” and not “don’t tread on us”.

Very true. I’m genuinely curious how many Trump voters didn’t find it likely enough last year to vote for him and only now do.

Definitely agree on occasional fine dining. If you can afford to save up for a really nice splurge meal every once in a long while, it’s absolutely worth it. The key is to find a place that is truly actually good and not pretentious or Instagram hype. But when you do, the combination of incredible food, drinks, and service can reinvigorate your zest for life.

About 22% of all Americans (not just voters) voted for him in 2024. So there’s still millions of people who voted for him and believed he knew.

It doesn’t need to be an either-or situation. We can attack the problem from multiple sides, since there’s isn’t a silver bullet. New housing absolutely has to be part of it, but obviously it’s not super helpful if the new stock isn’t affordable or practical for average people.

Counterproductive regulations (restrictive zoning, vetocracy setups) have prevented environmentally sensible and affordable housing from being added in sufficient quantities in most of the US for a long time. We have more people living in smaller households than we used to; it just doesn’t math without adding new stock.

Loblaw’s and their subsidiaries. The brand is literally called No Name (Sans Nom). It always gave me a chuckle when I lived in Canada.

Ultimately, all “why” questions reach an and.

I see you have not recently interacted with a toddler in the “why” phase.

I recently had a layover in this region of Florida and, uh, wow there’s are lot of people like this these days. I’m not going to tell anyone what to do with their own body, but jeez. My flight had a lady who, beside her face, seemed to be 40s but the facial work made her look much older. Her partner was an old guy who seemed to be a month away from drooling into a cup, as she was doing literally everything for him including his seatbelt.

I think there’s something to be said about a game that is both able to be and worth modding to such a degree. Bethesda has a bit of an unfair advantage due to decades of community knowledge building on the creation engine, however. I don’t disagree with any of your criticisms though.

This is not a surprise if you actually talk to random voters, like while canvassing. People are just cynical about that government actually doing any of this, not if they are worth doing. If we can get a slate of progressives elected who truly accomplish some of these goals, that could start some real systemic change if properly communicated.

It’s a very accurate description of the Northeast. People will help you dig your car out of the snow while passively aggressively exhaling very loudly to emphasize how much of a pain it is. But then they’ll just walk away not even expecting a thank you.

I haven’t played Starfield due to its reception, but Fallout 4 for me was excellent taken for what it was. Granted, the modding community (as usual for Bethesda) elevated it from a good to great game. I was surprised the number of hours I’ve put into it actually surpassed New Vegas. Though overall imo New Vegas > 4 > 3.

From an administration with low favorability ratings, two people with high unfavorability ratings. Foolproof plan. No notes!