And he gets to pick which data supports his desired outcome.

As an American, please vote. Our country is owned by the corporations, at least yours can bring them to heel sometimes.

Welcome to your deregulated “free market”, Texas. Don’t want to be tied to government regulation? Guess you get to pay more or cook…or freeze. Your choice by season.

Yeah. That’s also a problem. But then you have to upend corporate ownership of the control of speech, and we’re already facing that problem.

That’s lovely, and I appreciate the sentiment. It doesn’t change the fact that someone abuses the term in order to force others to listen to BS. I’m not opposed to the ideal, I am opposed to the expectation that people have a right to make you listen to them.

There is no freedom of speech guarantee in private or public enterprise. Only government.

Yet another tool that uses “freedom of speech” incorrectly to basically mean “I want to force people to listen to my bullshit.” How these people running for office don’t get the first amendment is amazing.

Funny how rich people can get away with that. I could say I fully believe I’m going to win $50 million in the lottery next week, but a bunch of shit I can’t pay for, and probably wind up jailed pretty shortly thereafter and nobody would bat an eye. Rich guy selling vaporware? No problem, he just believed his own hype train. Sorry, investors.

This is actually the incarnation of “Defending the Free State” IMO. To be clear, the right to bear arms does not mean you get to attack and overthrow the government, but to defend yourself (along with other states) against any state trying to impose tyranny. The federalist papers posited this (no they’re not law, and they certainly have other issues) and IMO it makes sense, even if it is a view shaped in a time that no longer exists.

Late edit: you don’t get to attack and overthrow the government because you find some policy inconvenient or irritating personally. Tyranny I think is pretty specific, and has nothing to do with government trying to push things like saving life on earth, incentivizing electric vehicles, someone asking for a different name than their birth gender, or trying to protect kids and everyone else from random or other actors with firearms intent on mass death.

I’m not sure about that. Popular shows get canceled, unfinished. Huge price hikes, and you can’t jump to another provider to watch the shows at a new rate or call and threaten to cancel to get a new rate. Sure, there are a few good series, but it’s still mostly crap. Sure, you can watch some older movies on demand, but plenty aren’t available, are available on some other service, and/or require you to pay a rental fee if you can find it. Prices keep climbing, ads are constantly a threat, and they place more restrictions on how many devices you’re allowed to watch on.

They are doing everything they can to re-insert the worst aspects of cable.

Point is that you can be closeted (I don’t know what the word is, if there is one, of someone who is gay but so fully repressed that they fully participate in the straight life) and be elected. Married, kids, the whole thing. So the position is that it’s highly likely that a lgbtq person has been elected, just that they weren’t open about it or were “straight”.