Okay but it does seem odd to claim it’s unpopular when the unpopularity is based on misunderstanding. (Also, would you say trump is unpopular despite his legions of rabid marks fans?)

Let’s go back to Obamacare, which when polled absent the name, was wildly popular. But Obamacare with the name was unpopular.

So, would you say Obamacare was popular, unpopular or complicated? And do you see how this applies to the Carbon Tax, which suffers from the same issue?

Ehhhhhh, I dunno. I mean, it’d be weird to argue donald trump isn’t popular, despite thr majority of folks having an unfavourable opinion of him.

I also think this is sort of like Obamacare which was famously incredibly popular with folks, including Republican voters, as long as you didn’t use the word Obamacare. If you loom at that abacus polling I linked earlier, you’ll note that most folks don’t even seem to realize the cheques they’ve received have anything to do with the carbon tax and many don’t understand they’re getting more than they pay in…

I don’t know about loser but I do think you’re setting yourself for an unpleasant wake-up at some point.

Spend your youth jerking it, playing video games and never going through the learnings, experiences, joys and heartbreaks of relationships, if you realize in a dozen years that there is a gaping partner/meaning/joy void in your life, it’ll be much harder to fix. Believe me, dating does not get easier in middle age. Especially if you don’t want kids.

It’s sort of like any other drug, easy and appealing alternative to life’s difficulties in the moment but consistent use tends to lead to serious problems down the road.

That being said, if you’re 26 and haven’t been on a date, I imagine there are bigger issues than a preference for video games and waifus. I suspect the women with whom you have a chance aren’t attractive enough for you so it leads to this spiral. And frankly, lowering your standards sucks and lifting yourself up to meet others’ standards is a lot of work.

Don’t really have an answer but those are my middle aged thoughts. I’m old, balding, don’t want kids and haven’t seriously dated for a couple of years as I’m adjusting to this new reality. But goddamn I am happy I spent my late 20s sleeping with a lot of fun folks and in a few meaningful relationships. I grew every time I fell in love, cherish some of the crazy times and know I’m a better person for it all. Those experiences and memories are big motivators for getting into better shape, working on myself etc so that when I’m ready, I can aim for another of those awesome fun relationships.

A plurality of Canadians don’t support it.

Though, given that most don’t realize they are receiving the benefits from it, this seems more a messaging issue than a policy one.

But this is kind of the issue. Any environmental legislation is going to have to battle through conservative disinformation. The alternative is the conservative’s plan which seems to “screw it, that’s somebody else’s problem. Specifically, the next generation’s.”

https://abacusdata.ca/carbon-tax-pollution-pricing-carbon-action-incentive-payment-abacus-data-polling/

Despicable Walz, clearly he doesn’t think a woman can do his job.

“Isn’t watching unvarnished propaganda funded by an elderly Australian coal magnate kinda weird?”

Probably invited to everyone else’s birthday but not mean ol’ Tim Walz’s.

I think you’ve got most of it pretty well outlined here. A couple minor additions/thoughts:

Lemmys communist leanings are probably self reinforcing. If you’re a moderate/mainstream leftie but think communism is a but silly, well noting so will get you “yelled at” by those disproportionately loud voices. It gets tiring, so I imagine the mainstream/moderates learn to avoid communism adjacent threads/questions etc.

There also may be an age thing. I have less time and inclination to argue with randoms online than when I was younger. And when I was younger I had much more extreme (and in retrospect some embarrassing) views.

Questions/comments about communism that aren’t positive get a lot of downvotes here.

“Ha, these two were deeply in love and had a marriage stronger than money! What losers!” Fairly hard to make the claim the joke is at their expense.

This might be a language thing though? The phrase at their expense tends to mean that whomever is the butt of the joke. In this case, the four audience marriages are the butt of the joke as they are not as in love as the deceased.

I don’t know if you’re old enough to have spoken at funerals. There are jokes you tell while doing so, usually framed like this wherein you’re praising the deceased (usually a common memory, like their cooking) and comparing yourself or the crowd unfavourably.

Now, I’m not sure it was appropriate or wise for trump to try this at a fundraiser but it seems disingenuous to say he was making fun of the deceased, which is how most English readers would interpret the headline.

It’s inappropriate etc but it’s not exactly making fun of the dead.

I try to think about these things from a “what would a median/swing voter think if they read this AND knew the context.” I firmly believe that misleading headlines etc have helped trump by making it harder for those in the middle to trust media outlets.

Fair enough!

Oh absolutely. It’s just the phrasing of the headline implies he’s joking about how dumb or whatever the guy is instead of say, that he had a beautiful and loving marriage.

Deciding that nothing happened or is happening is pretty damned privileged in my opinion.

A good friend and her toddler needed public transit the other week and had to deal with a guy smoking hard drugs at the bus stop who, after boarding the bus and started yelling gay slurs at someone. Is she ever going to be okay putting her kid on public transit alone? Or will she need to take extra time off work to escort her kid everywhere? Or work extra to afford to uber the kid to everything? Or just not leave?

That’s a pretty sketchy but not entirely unusual occurrence here in Vancouver. My heart bleeds for those struggling but that also includes those who need to walk downtown, those who are vulnerable (more than a few girls I know are worried, with good reason, if they have to leave their places alone at night) or the small business owners who’ve given up after replacing their glass windows for the third time in a month. As a reasonable sized dude, I’m fine kind of wherever but I think it’s essential to remember that empathy goes both ways.

Never got around to that one, worth it?

I don’t think it’s at his expense? The idea is that the deceased and his widow were in love and would value each other more than money:

‘This is so nice, and I appreciate it, but I’d much rather have my husband.’

whereas he claims that some people in the audience would be thrilled to trade their spouses for money.

Hate trump but I think RawStory is misrepresenting this as they do much else.

Here is the reporting for the Guardian, a mpre legitimate source of news:

Then, recalling a meeting with Comperatore’s widow, Helen, he made a risky attempt to find humour in the tragedy. “So they’re going to get millions of dollars but the woman, the wife, this beautiful woman, I handed her the cheque – we handed her the cheque – and she said, ‘This is so nice, and I appreciate it, but I’d much rather have my husband.’ Now, I know some of the women in this room wouldn’t say the same.”

As dinner guests erupted in laughter, Trump quipped: “I know at least four couples. There are four couples, Governor [Abbott], that I know and you’re not one of them. At least four couples here would have been thrilled, actually.”

I absolutely agree. Almost every RawStory piece I see is pretty garbage and the exact type of nonsense and same wanton disregard for fact that infuriates me about the Right’s media ecosphere.

My regular stream site started having issues tonight, so this was kind of miraculous timing! Hopefully one of these works!

I think it’s some 3 million dollars they’re going to spend on these? At least it’s nice to know they will certainly be spending a similar amount on Qurans and whatnot /s