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Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow warns UK of ‘proportional response’ if it continues ‘provoking’ Ukraine to attack – live (theguardian.com) "In principle" basically means "yeah, but I'm not."

Democrats unfortunately went into this acting like they had a super majority instead of a near-even split. They'd probably fare better breaking out the most popular items (Romney was very vocal on being willing to work on keeping the child tax credit permanent) and having some results that the average person would feel instead of having a massive all-or-nothing bill. Really, if you can't fit the gist of what you want to do into a three-five word bumper sticker, you probably need to rethink it ... it helps people get it too. People understand "More money to feed kids" and "More Charging Stations NOW." They don't get "Build Back Better" because even Democrats have trouble explaining it.

Russia has been using Transnistria in propaganda for some time, claiming the Moldavians are oppressing them, despite essentially being left to their own means for decades. Spreading the fighting there would more likely spark a direct conflict with the EU and NATO just because of the fighting being right on Romania's doorstep as far as actual proximity to the border. Moldova has already tried to reunite with Romania once since they are basically Romanians too. If Russia starts bombing Moldova, it's hard to see Romania staying out of it. The most annoying thing about all of this is that western governments (outside of Poland, Baltics and a few others) are preparing their people for any sort of sacrifice or readiness as it becomes more evident that this war is dangerously close to breaking out of Ukraine. Governments in liberal democracies seem very reluctant to tell their people that they'll have to go through some hard times, but it'll be worth it in the very end. If WWII happened today, it's hard to picture how current generations would not just roll over after a month of rationing and interruptions.

I actually watched a video about the alleged assassins' target the other day:

Yet here you are, engaging me.

Looks like cultured meat could be made available in the US this year if the FDA approves it. Of course, there's going to be a fight with ranchers and farmers who are going to have lobbyists attempt to regulate it to death. Source: How to Buy Lab-Grown Meat? FDA Weighs Approval of Sales in 2022 - Bloomberg

Dude, you're on an internet forum. Who uses those anymore?

I don't remember interacting with you very much. Have you been admiring me from afar or something? Are you all like "yeah, here's my chance, I'm going to totally pwn this guy with an insult that combines BABIES and the CIRCUS! YEAH!"

Good thing I got shin guards.

Na, thinking Snopes is a Soros fronted whatever would make you a member. Disillusionment is just the step before acceptance. Politics is depressing if you don't accept that democracy is never going to allow for you to get everything you want. That's just how it is.

I have been wondering if it's going to have any temporary effect on the climate like big volcanic blasts often do.

Let's see what Snopes has to say: Since the tin foil brigade thinks Snopes is in league with Satanic Jews, here's another fact check from Newsweek: Also, inflation is the worst it's ever been. But no, we can't blame Biden for that, even though if Trump were still president you'd be fine completely blaming him. Trump had the unique ability to make things even worse than they already were. No president has been so uniquely incompetent. What would Trump's answer to inflation be? Blaming China? Yelling at Canada and Mexico? The guy is unwilling to accept any responsibility for anything. For him, the "buck gets passed on to someone else" when things don't go as planned. But yeah, go ahead and tell me how Biden is "just as bad."

Finally got a new job that lets me have time to do things outside of work aside eat, take a dump and sleep.

Let's see, Trump was an impulsive and incompetent president whose unpredictability and fawning (as well as sucking up) up to authoritarians like Kim, Putin and Xi damaged the U.S.'s stature in the world. Plus, his inability to comprehend how free trade works wound up damaging American manufacturing even more in the long term. Not to mention that Trump continuously attacked people for trying to avoid the COVID-19 virus because small crowds made him sad. What did Biden do that was so bad? Oh, right, he can't be a dictator and ram through every little demand internet leftists want. It's so sad that we have elected officials representing constituents whose desires don't align with ours. Purists are never happy. They were the sort who wanted the ACA to fail because they didn't get everything they wanted. Some things never change.

... except Europe, South America, Asia and Africa. They may not be called "Nazis" but far right nationalists seem to have no problem getting elected worldwide. We (along with Canada and Australia to an extent) are outliers when it comes to our progressive world views.

Vermont: 94.2 percent white Oregon: 86 percent white Iowa: 90 percent white If people from California are looking to be away from minorities, they're not heading to the whitest states. I'm still trying to figure out what sort of point you're trying to make. I'm not even sure what you're even taking issue with aside from "California is losing population to other states."

You're not citing anything in specific. Births have gone down in the state and lower and middle income families are leaving. Also: Are you even familiar with the demographic makeup of Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and Texas? If people are seeking places where they don't want to live around minorities then Vermont, Oregon and Iowa would be exploding in population right now.

I'm not sure the point you're trying to make here. You're not pointing at any statistical information. The exodus from California is spread across most demographic groups: https://calmatters.org/projects/california-black-population-exodus/ https://www.city-journal.org/html/california-economy-16076.html Even the immigrant population is leaving: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-10-16/reverse-migration-california-coronavirus-covid-pandemic Ohio's and the Midwest's decline is no secret and has been a thing for years. Not sure what the relevance is aside from "they're heading south too."

Oregon had seen growth really slow in 2019 and word is 2020 is going to be a bad year, particularly due to Portland losing its shine. Washington looks to be doing OK, but it's experiencing the same problem as far as becoming too expensive for anyone but single professionals to live, at least as far as the metro areas. Idaho, Arizona and Utah seem to be the places everyone wants to be as far as the Western states go now. That will probably mean more congressional seats for Republicans thanks to the way the districts will be drawn.

Everything that I've seen has pointed at decline, which is benefiting other states, particularly Texas. The biggest reason people used to leave California was due to the cost of living but now the environment is playing an even bigger role. People are giving up due to the air quality, water shortages and, of course, having homes burnt down by wildfires almost as soon as they're rebuilt. Plus, California is starting to lose the industry that drew so many there over the last three decades: Tech. Overall, the population trend is negative for California and looks like it will be accelerating over the next decade: https://qz.com/1599150/californias-population-could-start-shrinking-very-soon/ It is going to lose at least one congressional district by the next election. California has always been a state dependent on people going there from other places, not families that stay for generation after generation. The market for workers looking to make big moves has become more competitive and California is losing. It's going to be the most populous state for awhile, but the trend is that more people are leaving than are coming. If the military didn't have so many operations there, the loss would probably be more pronounced. We still have no idea the effect coronavirus has had on the population yet, but we know it's bad. Newsom isn't to blame, he's just been left with an impossible situation, even before coronavirus.

I have to admire Pat Robertson's tenacity in regards to all the attempts to buy him out of that seemingly eternal contract for the 700 Club to air on whatever network CBN used to be. The last amount I heard he was offered was $42 million.

I thought the 700 Club only came on at some godawful hour like 3 a.m. now.

So, some questions after reading this: What is the future of Los Angeles considering California is starting to experience a population decline? What U.S. city will displace Los Angeles as No. 2 in the US and how long (if it is on the same track as the state)? Will New York City feel the same population decline as the rest of the state (which is on track to lose two congressional seats)? Where is the population gravity of the country in your opinion? So, the article: https://www.axios.com/rise-of-megacities-world-3c212d8e-a269-45b9-9e74-3106ed681e9c.html

I remember her being kind of old when I was a kid ... kind of expected her to be old when I got old too.

I doubt it, at least not from the MAGA crowd. Trump's final days pretty much killed it. He pretty much dropped them like a sack full of rocks to protect himself from future prosecution and lawsuits resulting from the riot he started. Look at what happened on the day they were supposed to turn out at all the state capitals (ARMED) ... zero. They're done and demoralized. I doubt Trump will be able to reignite the flames and the rest of the Republicans are trying to ride on his fumes ... but they won't be getting near as far. The whole culture war thing only works so long before it becomes evident that there has been nothing of substance done. It may not mean that Democrats are going to sweep GOP strongholds, but the most extreme elements are going to find themselves eventually fall to primary challengers when people get tired of talk and want results. The GOP is not going to have a good 2022 despite mid-terms usually being rough. Unless Biden majorly fucks up something on the scale of Trump, his policies are probably going to be pretty popular. What are the GOP going to do in reaction to that? Probably scream socialism and conspiracy theories again, marching out the bloated spectacle that Trump will be. If Trump family members run like they threaten to, it's going to be a major disaster in the general election for them. Right now it looks like McConnell is fine with sacrificing party seats in the senate in order to keep Trump voters happy. He's unenthusiastically taken a double barrel shotgun and shot himself in the foot in order to protect an ex-president who is going to become more and more unpopular as time goes on and more of his personal dealings come to light. On the other hand, Trump will continue to be a great tool for Democrats as they mount challenges to crackpots like Ron Johnson and whoever wins the Senate primaries in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. From the sound of it, Arizona already looks lost since the most likely candidate is even worse than McSally (chemtrail Kelli Ward). Georgia may be close, but Warnock will have the advantage of being an incumbent and better reflecting the changing attitude and demographics of that state. Anyway, the people you're worried out have been abandoned by their savior. They're trying to cope with this new reality where they realize that Trump was never going to stick his neck out for them. They'll either drift back to the dark places of the internet or (like most people who embrace internet extremism) quietly change their politics to fall within what's considered mainstream, particularly if they go out and get lives. Part of the reason we may have had the riot is due to all the people with nothing to do but hang out at home and warp their reality because of COVID.