To be clear, the right of free speech given in the first amendment is the right to express any opinion without fear of repercussions.

Not the case. The 1st Amendment provides freedom of speech without fear of repercussions by the U.S. government. We do not have the right to express any opinion without repercussions from literally any other source.

Where did you get the idea this guy was numb?

A few years ago on a cruise we sat at a table with a doctor who said he was in charge of all United Healthcare insurance approvals. This guy didn’t just mention he had to sometimes refuse people care, he was absolutely giddy about it and took sadistic pleasure in seeing other people suffer. We moved to a different table to get away from him.

I guess we’ll find out eventually, but I’ve got to wonder if the shooter was pushed over the edge after someone close to him died due to refusal of care by United Healthcare.

“Hate speech” is defined and outlawed by countries around the world:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_laws_by_country

Threatening people based on their religion, race or other attributes is not dissent.

That is correct.

Trump, speaking about Nancy Pelosi asked a crowd of supporters, “How’s her husband doing by the way?” and saying a “wall around her house” didn’t do a “good job” of protecting her 82-year-old husband from an intruder who fractured his skull with a hammer during a break-in last year—prompting laughter from the crowd.

There need to be extraordinary penalties for threatening election workers, intimidating voters, or destroying ballots. How about a minimum 20 year sentence to start?

I wonder how safe Musk feels standing next to a hotel room window.

Not so unusual these days and way more than a few. We’ve got most of a political party that is perfectly willing to line up behind a fascist and cheer him on.

The Republicans are all for states rights as long as those states do exactly as they say.

The Senate Intelligence report on Russian election interference details Russian manipulation and misinformation regarding the 2016 election and Trump’s involvement. Volume 5 is well worth at least skimming. When you look at the evidence it is clear that the following excerpt is accurate:

The Committee’s bipartisan Report unambiguously shows that members of the Trump Campaign cooperated with Russian efforts to get Trump elected. It recounts efforts by Trump and his team to obtain dirt on their opponent from operatives acting on behalf of the Russian government. It reveals the extraordinary lengths by which Trump and his associates actively_sought to enable the Russian interference operation by amplifying its electoral impact and rewarding its perpetrators - even after being warned of its Russian origins. And it presents, for the first time, concerning evidence that the head of the Trump Campaign was directly connected to the Russian meddling through his communications with an individual found to be a Russian intelligence officer.

That is the Democrat’s conclusion and it overwhelmingly supported by the details in the report. The GOP members pretend it’s all a misunderstanding and an attempt by Trump to improve relations.

IMO the only reason Trump and his organization weren’t found to be illegally colluding with Russia is that the GOP chose party over country yet again. Republicans are willing to commit insurrection, treason and burn the country to the ground to maintain power.

Seems that blocking my robot vac’s Internet access when it’s not in use is not so paranoid after all.

Susceptible to intrusive ads and viruses.

My Windows computer was infected more than once by virus spreading ads on legitimate websites. The site owners denied any responsibility for the viruses saying it was the fault and responsibility of the ad companies. Never again.

I have a convertible laptop with a MicroSD slot. A 4TB card would be great for backups.

Likewise Trader Joe’s prices have shot up tremendously, like 50% on many items in less than a year. This while Aldi’s prices have not risen nearly as much. Meanwhile corporations are celebrating the highest profits in more than 70 years while simultaneously working overtime to convince us those runaway profits have nothing to do with inflation.

So we’re supposed to believe that the highest corporate profits in more than 70 years are not a primary driver of inflation? I don’t buy it and neither do all economists.

It is unlikely that either the extent of corporate greed or even the power of corporations generally has increased during the past two years. Instead, the already-excessive power of corporations has been channeled into raising prices rather than the more traditional form it has taken in recent decades: suppressing wages.

Corporations have such excessive power that they can even push the narrative that their historic profits don’t have anything to do with inflation. Some people actually believe the propaganda.

It’s obvious that my point is Brookings is deliberately ignoring the elephant in in the room. They are turning a blind eye to extreme corporate price gouging and record profits, in fact Brookings didn’t mention those things at all.

Thinking and critical analysis requires awareness of what is deliberately being omitted by a media source as well as what is being said. It has nothing to do with “somehow reading” the article wrong.

Right. The highest corporate profits in more than 70 years have nothing to do with it.

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I’m worried it would cause permanent tension between two friends.

Significant tension with our Mexican neighbors is exactly what Trump, Desantis and other weirdo’s rhetoric is causing. They’re just trying gin up more hatred from their bizarre, poorly educated, toxic supporters and they don’t get a fuck about anyone else.

Each time some GOP idiot talks about invading or bombing Mexico the news spreads like wildfire in Mexico while American news media ignores it almost completely. I repeatedly hear about bullshit the GOP freaks are spouting from my Mexican friends instead of reading about it in our own mainstream media.