You are blinded by hero worship if you think his ego wasn’t at play. I like the man, I like his politics, but come on man, get real. He wasn’t falling on a sword, he was running for the highest office in the land with millions of devoted supporters cheering love to him 24/7. No one is immune from the ego boost that provides and it will warp ones perspective no matter who you are.

The fact that you missed the point was not unexpected.

Yes! Amazing both sidesing a man that wants to end democracy with a senile moderate.

That’s before even a day of campaigning with her at the top of the ticket, I don’t think those numbers are as bad as you think. Trump has been campaigning nonstop for nearly a decade. Unfortunately Harris is not exactly energizing, but I bet she can pick up 2-3 points just by being normal for 4 months.

Wait, that’s only 2 of the sites, that doesn’t really prove anything. Also the Canaanites were what would become the Jews, you know, the people that made a whole religion out of freeing themselves from slavery in Egypt. I get that religion is an unreliable historian, but it seems plausible to me that the cornerstone of the entire religion had a basis in reality. Some myths are very often loosely rooted in historical events even if they get magical after that point. Some think Robin Hood basically meant John Doe Criminal in old England or was possibly even a person at some point. Many religions feature a great flood. There is evidence of a historically large flood in Africa that basically created much of the northern deserts.

I don’t think it makes sense to dismiss it as myth anymore than it makes sense to claim it’s assuredly true, imo. Egypt was a continuous civilization for 3000 years before Christianity even appeared. 3000 years of history we no very little about. There are 118 identified pyramids… But, considering how distressingly common slavery features in old texts, it seems unlikely a civilization spanning 3000 years built none of their pyramids with slaves.

I mean if happen to be one of the dipshits looking at their cellphone when the light turns green you deserve the honks.

Williamson is an absolute loon and Walz wants to stay governor.

Agree, but still slightly higher than Biden, imo.

Politicians aren’t activists, you’re just confused on how the system works. If you want politicians to change the only thing you can do is apply pressure through their constituents. That means changing minds and motivating people to action. Politicians want to stay in office and largely will be swayed by a shift in public opinion. The right wing is winning because their brand of crazy is highly motivated. It’s easier to moan on the Internet than change minds and change laws.

But changing laws is not as hard as most people believe. A handful of motivated people can change a state law simply by convincing people in their district to call and apply pressure on their behalf. Constituent lobbying is incredibly effective, 10 people convince 10 people each to apply pressure to the right people and suddenly a 45/55 vote becomes 51/49 seemingly over night. I’ve been a part of that more than once to great success. You just gotta put in the work.

Changing minds is harder though, we are competing against media conglomerates that mostly don’t care about truth. But it can happen with work.

Over time that work translates into different politicians, the state I’m in (Minnesota) keeps inching left a hair at a time because the work that is needed keeps happening. It doesn’t happen fast, but it does happen.

What I’m saying is, if you only show up on voting day and just complain all other days don’t be surprised when the country moves right. Political change happens every single day of the year, voting is just the political act that reflects that work. We get wet farts like Biden because little of the work is done by the left the make substantive change to our culture. Much of the left views whining as a political act and no more.

Parties don’t decide where the country moves politically, citizens do. If you want people to move left, you have to put in the work to change minds. You don’t sway people at the ballot box. All voting is, is a poll of what people already think and parties try to match their candidates to that poll. The reason our politicians are terrible, is because our people are.

A public servant that gets off on enforcing an unjust disproportionate entrenched system. Executioners are public servants by definition too, should I respect them as well? Prosecutors are mostly goobers.

It’s not that simple, if gaining undecided votes comes at the cost of more votes than they gain then you’re not going to win. That has been the struggle of the Dems for decades on every progressive issue.

Most of those where cops only larping as military. Military operations are a completely different thing. No country wants to fight their own people. Your own logistics, intelligence, supply chains, and financing all rely, in part, on the very people you are fighting… You can’t trust or count on the chain of command at any point, at any point your keys to power can turn on you and you’re dead. Leaders with half a brain know you usually don’t have a long life attacking your own people.

Domestic wars are never pretty, no matter how powerful the military. Most people in the military don’t serve to shoot their own country. Countries don’t want to damage their own infrastructure or enflame their own people. Oligarchs won’t support a war that damages their bottom line. People vastly over simply how easy it would be to stop an armed resistance.

None of the things by themselves fully justify “belief” in a religion yet many people claim they are without a true belief in the entire system. It’s the problem with such a vague question. By a narrower definition very few people attending a place of worship are true believers. Someone can believe in god, but not really believe in the rules, and still say they are “religious”. Someone can believe in the rules, but not god, and say the same. I think if you are practicing the religion to some extent then you have a right to call yourself religious if that’s how you view yourself regardless of your true beliefs on god, rules, etc. Cultural impact matters more than we give it credit for.

Another big reason is reason number 4

4. Gives a sense of community and cultural connection that other things don’t quite provide.

I’ve met a not so inconsequential amount of people in my life that when pressed admitted, they don’t believe in god, don’t believe in the moral teachings, but attend a place of worship because they think there is no replacement for the interwoven community and cultural connection their place of worship provides. Many people simply like the community connection of their root culture. This is especially true in minority groups (black church, synagogue).

Realistically it’s only those 1-2 days after snowing when things are still being cleared that it’s an issue. I bike commute 52 weeks a year in Minnesota and there were only 3 days this year I regretted biking. 2 snow days and one heavy cold rain. I can always supplement another option on those days.

I do and it’s honesty much better than those 33+ c days. When it’s below freezing, I wear thermal high tops, snow pants, down jacket, face mask and ski goggles. Its perfectly comfortable.

I don’t doubt anything you are saying, but it’s worth mentioning that (iirc) 80%+ of severe injury and death on a bicycle is caused by motor vehicles, or complications of motor vehicle involvement. People very rarely have severe injury or death on dedicated bike infrastructure. The primary risk on bicycles is motor vehicles. If you remove motor vehicles, there is still risks, but someone might decide that risk is low enough to forgo a helmet. I don’t feel those people should be called stupid for their choice.

There is considerable evidence that everyone wearing a helmet in a car would save vastly more lives and prevent severe head injury, and yet pretty much no one even considers that as a normal thing to do. The bike helmet thing is therefore just as much a cultural attitude, as it is about safety.

I still use a helmet, and more importantly, visibility gear, on my bicycle in 100% of my rides. I’ve never worn a bike helmet walking or driving in a car, even though my cousin died from a head injury getting hit by a car while walking and my grandma-in-law died of a head injury in a car…