Because you love in the US.

The answer to ALL things going on in the US is simple:

Who’s gonna stop them?

The president and his (ex?-)boyfriend are doing whatever the FUCK they want, and they even have the backing of the Supreme Court, so the only way to stop them is active resistance.

You’d be surprised at how effective it is to absolutely ignore the law when you’re on top of the heap. I expect that Le Pen would do the same if she got a chance; as would Poilievre, the nuts in charge of the AfD, or any of the unrepentant fascists.

The truth is that the laws put in place to stop this sort of behaviour are like the velvet ropes for crowd control. They only work is people decide to obey them, and if someone were to stomp over them all, it’s only the other people who could stop that person from reaching the front of the line.

Swap Catholic for almost any Abrahamic religion here, and it would still hold true.

This is identical to what my relatives in the Dutch Reform church accept. It’s not Catholic dating culture.

Nope.

For context, I’m in my late 50s and always want to know the right answer, and share it with everyone.

Buy sometimes, you need to let it go. You might be in a situation where someone is confidently stating something you know to be wrong. Correcting them can - depending on context - come across as insulting and know-it-all; and if it’s not important, maybe stay silent this time.

Now if you’re in a situation where the truth IS important, or where everyone is more interested in the truth (or even debate) than something cool but false, your knowledge will be appreciated.

You don’t have to always have the last word, even if it’s right.

Trump.

I caan’t imagine where in the world you are that this could possibly be an appropriate comment for the prof to make.

It’s not his place to tell you what to weat. This is no more acceptabke than if he told a female student that her skirt was too short, or for that matter, too long.

Wear what you want.

A few unsalted mixed nuts from Costco, when I woke up at 2:30 this morning.

The Martian.

Aside from the macguffin that left Matt Damon stranded, the science was solid. Furthermore, the casual dysfunctionality and administrative infighting of the governments and agencies was brilliantly on point.

Toenail growth.

Cutting nails is annoying, and toenails are awkward and stupid.

In a nutshell…

They’re not here for your benefit, they’re here for their own profit.

If they could make money with flashing lights they would, even if they had to deal with lawsuits from people who had seizures from it.

They don’t cate what you like. They don’t care what you want. You are nothing more than a commodity they can sell.

Now that you mention it…

No, not really. It had never occurred to me before, and as I hear them in my head right now, they’re just not that similar.

But that’s me.

Sooner or later, all protests in the US will turn into this kind of protest. I suspect quite soon.

Why aren’t you?

Also, grow the fuck up.

Fuck no.

No kidding. I mean, this is finally the moment that Madison predicted two centuries ago! A fascist has seized control over the government, and is illegally detaining people. Rise up my US gun-lovers! Rise against the dictators and claim control of your country from…

Oh wait, you’re the ones who got him elected? Nevermind.

Small, small minds see this as a threat to American liberties.

That’s one tiny - TINY -aspect of what’s happening right now. It’s a symptom of what’s going on, and not even the most eggregious one by far.

The US is self-destructing and simultaneously using that chaos to threaten other nations. It’s a race between total internal collapse and world war III, and at this point most of the world is hoping the US ends up killing itself in a 50-year civil war.

Maybe you missed it, but he has declared complete lawlessness for himself and his cronies.

He’s not asking, he has already declared it.

If all else fails, a Scotchbrite pad should do it safely.

Not American, so take with a grain of salt. However…

Frankly, if you’re a naturalized citizen at all, you should already be looking over your shoulder and feeling scared right now. They’re deporting legal residents because they don’t like the tattoos they have. They’re disappearing people for being 2SLGBTQ+.

So either you hide, you run, or you stand up. The only real difference is that standing up will make it easier to catch you - but the end result will be the same.

Hey, thanks. I ended up with HyperX. Easy ordering, fast-ish delivery (from within the country, yay!) and the keycaps were mostly excellent. A few needed trimming with an exacto knife and the font is awful, but it came with a selection of space bars, and now my keyboard is looking absolutely slick.