This is not a real study, this is a parody written to poke gentle fun at the medical community's tendency to over-diagnose, label, and pathologize everyday human behaviors.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) due to his severe fixation on honey and repetitive counting behaviors. The authors also suggest he may eventually present with Tourette's syndrome.

Piglet: Diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) because of his extreme, pervasive nervousness.

Eeyore: Diagnosed with severe, chronic depression (dysthymia) and "anhe(haw)donia"
(a clever play on anhedonia, the inability to feel pleasure).

Tigger: Exhibits classic hyperactive and risk-taking patterns, including impulsively ingesting unknown substances (like thistles and haycorns) when he first arrives in the forest.

Owl & Rabbit: Owl shows signs of dyslexia (jumbling his letters and spelling his name
"W-O-L"), while Rabbit is overly narcissistic and micro-managing.

Christopher Robin: Though not yet presenting a clear condition, the authors express concern over his lack of parental supervision and the fact that he spends all his time talking to animals.

The paper was written by a group of Canadian neurodevelopmental pediatricians;
Drs. Sarah Shea, Kevin Gordon, Ann Hawkins, Janet Kawchuk, and Donna Smith.
They were affiliated with the Developmental Clinic at the IWK Grace Health Centre and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Despite being a joke, it was written so convincingly that it made global headlines and even won a Canadian gold prize for journalistic excellence in the "One-of-a-Kind" article category.

No one funded it, because it was a parody written for holiday entertainment rather than a clinical trial or real research project, it received zero financial backing or research grants.

This phenomenon is widely known in the academic world as satirical science or academic parody. It represents a unique tradition where serious, highly qualified scientists apply rigorous research methodologies, complex statistics, and flawless academic writing to completely absurd, fictional, or lighthearted topics.
It requires an immense amount of intelligence to pull off effectively. To write a successful academic parody, you must understand the rules of scientific research so perfectly that you can bend them to create humor without breaking the format.

Scientists generally do this for three main reasons:

- A Mental Safety Valve: High-level research (such as studying terminal illnesses or climate change) is emotionally heavy and highly stressful. Writing a satirical paper is a crucial creative outlet that allows academics to blow off steam and show their sense of humor.

- Critiquing the System: Many of these papers carry a hidden, sharp message. By using flawless statistics to "prove" something completely ridiculous, scientists subtly mock the academic publishing industry. They are showing that if you manipulate data or ask the wrong questions, you can make "official science" look like it proves anything.
(That's why independent peer review matters, because unconnected experts can catch both honest mistakes and deliberate attempts to mislead. When reviewers don’t share incentives or biases, weak logic and bad‑faith, claims are far less likely to slip through, which keeps scientific results trustworthy)

- The Ultimate Inside Joke: It is a celebration of wit within the community. Appearing in a prestigious journal's holiday edition (like The BMJ or CMAJ) with a brilliant piece of satire is a badge of honor. It proves to their peers that they are not just smart, but also clever enough to make the rigid world of science laugh.

I have seen several of these. The first one I saw was many years ago, although this was
a variation made by a lawmaker. It was a brilliant parody of Dutch laws and regulations.
It is written in the typical, bone-dry, and complicated legal language (official Dutch) full of articles, paragraphs, and formal exception clauses. It was called the "General Sinterklaas Ordinance", a legal paper which supposedly regulates the entire logistics and enforcement surrounding the Sinterklaas celebration (Dutch character based on Saint Nicolas of Myra, who is also the basis of Santa Claus). Some people write small stories for fun and others write fake science or legal papers for fun.

Farmers turn on Trump: “It’s gonna be the nail in the coffin.”
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The White House Intervened to Get a $620 Million Deal for a Company
Tied to Donald Trump Jr.
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After raging about the alleged corruption of Hunter Biden for years,
explain why you are not talking about this, please.

There is usually not much worth sharing on your liberal corporate news channels,
but this clip is pretty good.
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A 23 year old is destroying their talking points with facts and logic.
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Father Confront City Council Corruption
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So you think you are a centrist on immigration, economic equality, climate and environmental protection, preventing people from going homeless or helping them back on their feet, the separation of powers as the main goal of your Constitution, drugs policies, housing, and how the police behaves towards citizens and criminals?

What's your opinion on abortion, gay-marriage or LGTBQ-rights in general, religious freedom/secular government? Do you at least have the “leave me alone / I’ll leave you alone” philosophy for that? I think I've seen you support the MAGA idea on that as well. Maybe I've missed some of your centrist ideas, but if you
don't want to say...

You have supported the hard right-wing line on all these issues and I have NEVER seen you push back on extreme right-wing ideas of the MAGA loyalists.
If you don't have ANY differences of opinion with MAGA, then you are MAGA.

If you STILL like Trump more than Obama, than you are MAGA or just a racist.
The only thing Obama did was being half black, while Trump is telling and reposting KKK/NeoNazi propaganda. He is even using Hitler's retoric.
There is even en exodus from hard-line MAGA loyalists at this moment. He is bleeding his base. Only hardcore MAGA is still supporting and defending him.

You think of your own ideas as common sense, because you get fed them 24/7.
If you watch any other ideas, it's only for rage-bait. Face it, you're NOT a centrist.
If you cannot tell me anything concrete about your disagreements with the right and your agreements with the left, than you are NOT a centrist.

I indeed lean way left. I am an active member of the Socialist Party. I don't pretend to be anything else. I just don't have all the straw-man ideas that your side puts
on the left. The Socialist Party addressed tensions around immigration and multiculturalism before the issue became mainstream in Dutch politics, while center-right and right-wing parties supported large-scale labor migration during the postwar economic boom, because employers demanded additional low-wage labor. The SP is still the most anti-labor immigration party and proposes real policies to reduce it, while our populist right-wingers didn't get anything done,
in the year they dominated politics until they pulled the plug. They tried illegal policies together with CUTS on the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), the agency that is needed to send back asylum seekers that don't have a legitimate claim for asylum. That only worsens the problems we face.
That's INTENTIONAL, because they need problems from asylum seekers for people to keep voting for them. They don't want solutions, they want problems.
In the meantime, they betrayed all the other promises they made to their voters.
The only difference between them and Trump is that Trump is doing everything that the law and Constitution should protect against, while our Rule of Law held.
On everything else, he is betraying his voters completely. If you don't see that,
or you keep defending it, than you are NOT a centrist. Or very stupid.

If I am wrong on any of your ideas, I'm here for it.

You are parroting the same lies and using the same false arguments.
You are not a centrist, you are far right.
If not, what is the difference between you and the right-wingers here?

if this was true, I would agree with deporting illegals in the way you describe.
It is however NOT true at all.

1. Immigration violations are NOT criminal offenses requiring jail before a judge.
Entering the U.S. without authorization is a CIVIL violation, not a criminal one. Immigration courts are administrative courts, NOT criminal courts.
So the claim “all illegal aliens are accused of committing a crime and must be held”
is LEGALLY FALSE.

2. Non‑citizens, including undocumented migrants, have constitutional due‑process rights.
The Fifth Amendment protects "all persons", not just citizens. Courts have repeatedly affirmed that non‑citizens are entitled to DUE PROCESS, including the right to challenge removal.
So the idea that they can be detained or deported without judicial review is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

3. Trump’s policies explicitly reduced access to immigration judges.
Multiple legal organizations document that Trump’s administration has:
- Expanded expedited removal, which bypasses immigration judges entirely.
- Stripped access to attorneys, making fair hearings nearly impossible.
- Implemented “grant and deport” and similar policies, that remove people without proper hearings.
This directly contradicts the claim that “everyone gets seen by a judge.”

4. Trump has carried out mass deportations without normal asylum procedures.
Asylum is a LEGAL RIGHT under U.S. and international law.
But Trump has:
- Restricted or ended asylum access, even for people legally presenting at ports of entry.
- Deported people en masse, including those with valid claims.

This means people are being removed BEFORE they can make their legal case.

5. Deporting people to dangerous third countries without hearings violates due process.
The American Immigration Council documents that Trump has attempted to deport people under the 'Alien Enemies Act' without hearings, a practice that the Supreme Court rejected.
This directly disproves the claim that deportations only occur "after" a judge decides.

6. Immigration courts are overwhelmed; millions wait years for hearings.
There are 3.5 million pending cases, and DHS prioritizes only certain categories.
Claiming that “everyone is held until they see a judge” is impossible and factually untrue.

7. Trump’s policies have broken the immigration court system. Legal experts report:
- Massive “mega‑hearings” with 100+ people at once.
- Hearings appearing without notice.
- Structural changes undermining fairness.

This is the opposite of a system ensuring due process.

Joe Biden did NOT let them all in. They are also not all potential dem voters,
many of them are very conservative. How about the Cuban immigrants?

And don't be a fucking snowflake, this is not a MAGA safe space.
It's pretty damn humiliating that a foreigner has to correct you on your own laws.
Just vote for politicians who obey the law and don't lie to cover up for them.

There is no self-respecting Italian/Pizza restaurant that would ever use potassium bromide. It's only used for factory and fast-food slob. Banning it will probably improve the company valuation and therefore the traffic at New York Pizza.

It's like when Domino's famously overhauled its entire core recipe in the US around 2009 to 2010 after publicly admitting their crust "tasted like cardboard", their expansion into Europe required a completely different, long-term operational
and chemical shift.

Here's what Domino's had to do to get Europeans to eat their pizza:

1. Cleaner Ingredients (Regulatory Adjustments): American fast-food dough relies heavily on sugars, artificial dough conditioners, and preservatives to survive long shipping times. Because European Union regulations strictly restrict or ban many
of these chemicals, Domino's had to completely strip down its recipe to a much simpler, cleaner formula.

2. Less Sugar, Lighter Texture (Taste Preferences): European consumers overwhelmingly rejected the heavy, dense, and sweet "cake-like" crusts popular in the United States. To match local continental palates, the company formulated lighter, crispier, and more authentic "Italian-style" thin crusts.

3. Fresh, Local Supply Chains (Logistical Shift): In the U.S., dough is heavily chilled and shipped long distances from centralized factories. Because Europeans expect fresh bread, Domino's had to reinvent its logistics by building local regional hubs
in Europe to deliver fresh, unfrozen dough daily, or by shifting to mixing the dough directly inside the local stores.

How to Stop the Trump Assassins
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Maybe that's why religious nuts also breed like rabbits;
they have to, otherwise they would die out very quickly.

No, but it's a better bet than blindly trusting Trump.

I don't put faith ANYWHERE. The nice thing about specialists is that they provide arguments based on facts, evidence and logical reasoning, that I can CHECK.

I don't have to believe them, I am smart enough to check their facts, evidence and logical reasoning, to make up my own damn mind. It's the ignorant people who have the problem of who to trust. They either pick between a huge number of educated people who's goal is to understand reality, or the fail-son of a billionaire, who could not increase his wealth doing honest business so he turned conman and cult-leader, who lost track himself of when he's lying or trying to speak the truth, can be lied to just as easily as he lies himself, and doesn't have the patience to learn anything.

Scientists are defined by one thing: a relentless commitment to getting reality right. Their whole job is to challenge each other, break bad ideas, and let only the strongest evidence survive. You don’t trust them because they’re ‘smart’, you trust them because they’re disciplined. Their work has to withstand constant scrutiny, replication, and criticism. That’s why 'Scientific Theories' matter; they’re the last ideas standing, after everything else has been torn apart.

A 'specialist' is someone who has spent years mastering one specific slice of reality; climate, virology, geology, astrophysics, etc. Their credibility comes from depth: thousands of hours learning the methods, the data, the failures, and the limits
of that field.

That’s why you listen to the specialist who actually studies the topic you’re dealing with. Expertise doesn’t transfer like a coupon. A physicist doesn’t automatically understand virology, and a surgeon isn’t qualified to debunk atmospheric chemistry.

Scientists aren’t interchangeable. When media platforms parade a 'specialist' from one field to talk confidently about a completely different field, they’re not giving you ‘expert insight’, they’re giving you the illusion of authority. Real expertise is narrow, disciplined, and earned. If you want the truth, you go to the people who’ve dedicated their lives to answering that exact question.

El Niсo has existed for at least 21,000 years, but horrible droughts, like you are seeing more often in the South and middle of the US, have not. Those regions are some of your country’s most important agricultural zones. They became agricultural powerhouses, because they were reliably wet enough, cool enough, and stable enough to grow food
at a massive scale. If droughts like the ones you’re seeing now had been normal, those regions never would’ve fed the nation in the first place.

As climate change accelerates, those same regions are losing the very conditions that made them productive. You don’t get to keep the crops while the climate that supports them disappears. If the warming continues, these won’t be America’s agricultural heartlands anymore, they’ll be cautionary tales about what happens when you bet
your food security against physics.

This is indeed very likely caused by El Niсo and they are expecting a super El Niсo this year, causing severe global disruptions, with the worst impacts concentrated in Southeast Asia, North and South America, and parts of Africa. Research shows that extreme El Niсo events intensify atmospheric disturbances that propagate far beyond the Pacific, producing persistent droughts, floods, and heatwaves across these regions. The west coasts of North and South America, especially California and the Andean nations, are likely to experience extreme rainfall and flooding. Globally, a super El Niсo also raises the likelihood of record‑breaking heat, because the event adds a powerful warming spike on top of human‑driven climate change, pushing temperatures toward unprecedented highs and amplifying heat‑related disasters.

A super El Niсo becomes more likely in a warmer world because human‑driven climate change is altering the background conditions of the Pacific Ocean atmosphere system. The key mechanism is that a hotter planet loads the climate system with more heat, making it easier for El Niсo events to reach extreme intensity and harder for the system to return to neutral conditions. At the same time, El Niсo impacts become more destructive, because they occur on top of an already warmer, more energetic climate.

Why climate change makes super El Niсo events more likely:

- Amplified ENSO variability — High‑resolution climate models project that greenhouse warming strengthens air–sea coupling in the tropical Pacific, increasing the amplitude of El Niсo and La Niсa swings. This can push the system toward more extreme oscillations.

- More frequent extreme El Niсo precursors — Under greenhouse warming, the atmospheric patterns that trigger extreme El Niсo events become more common,
raising the probability of “super” events.

- Record‑warm oceans — Global sea‑surface temperatures outside the Pacific have been persistently and unusually high, creating a warmer baseline that enhances El Niсo’s warming effect.

- Potential climate tipping behavior — Some models suggest the tropical Pacific could shift from irregular ENSO cycles to stronger, more regular oscillations as warming continues, making extreme events more common.

"Widespread Record US Drought Threatens Rural Livelihoods and Food Affordability"
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That sounds expensive. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to cancel planned offshore wind projects in exchange for government payments, bringing the total federal cost close to
~$2 billion in taxpayer funds, to favor fossil fuel companies, making the electricity of Americans more expensive, while the climate crisis is just starting.

When there is a health crisis, you don't encourage ignorant people (because that's
the only people who listen to that kind of nonsense) to "think outside the box",
you encourage them to listen to specialists. Trump doesn't just live a life of comfort,
he also lived a life of being shielded from consequences and having to solve problems, because he always let his lawyers solve the problems he created.
That's why you don't pick a stupid, narcissist nepo baby for president.

Thank you Texan Republican voters and thank you Trump, for endorsing one of the most corrupt politicians in your country, Ken Paxton, over incumbent Texas Senator John Cornyn, which puts Democrats in their best position to win the general election in Texas in decades, with James Talarico as the Democratic nominee.

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It will be very easy to attack Paxton on his record of rank corruption.
Exactly the type of opponent that a real populist can use to his advantage.
Even if Talarico loses, it will cost a fortune in attack ads, that takes away from others.

At some point, murderers are set free. I do not support life sentences for all murderers, so the consequence is that there will be some murderers in my neighborhood. I accept those consequences of liberal values. However, that's exactly the reason for why I support an incarceration system that prioritizes rehabilitation.

Your ideas created prisons in your country that turn anyone into a hardened criminal, even if they are there for a short time. You think that it is punishment or a deterrent
to have prisons feel like hell, but ALL the facts prove you wrong; you have one of
the highest incarceration rate in the world, only beaten by El Salvador, Cuba and Turkmenistan. You also have one of the worst recidivism rates.
You are literally supporting a system that does what you accuse me of; accepting potential murderers in your neighborhood, by giving everyone who broke the law and has to go to prison, an environment that traumatizes them, turns them into a hardened motherfucker from the struggle to survive, and fills them with resentment towards society for being treated like an animal instead of a human being.

Another way in which you promote living among countless potential murderers, is supporting a type of politics that is inciting people 24/7 with resentment, hate and fear. Then you support the unrestricted freedom to own guns, by voting for politicians who fight against taking away the guns from people with mental health issues, wife beaters and people who hurt their pets. That results in your ridiculously high murder rates.

I feel safe in my country. It's not just a feeling, I am truly significantly safer, everywhere I go, than you are. That is the result of the hard work of the people and politicians
who rebuilt my country after WWII on democratic socialist and liberal values.

It's the little things that put a smile on your face.

I just explained to him that some regulations are intended to protect consumers
from being poisoned, and he didn't get it. He's defending deregulation, by saying
that the poor 'small' business New York Pizza will be harmed, if the evil socialist
forces them to stop poisoning consumers. And it isn't even true.

No sign of understanding that this wasn't his best argument ever
and no sign that he will learn anything from being this wrong either.

The bankruptcy of KMart is probably not caused by private equity, but ESL Investments bought large amounts of Kmart’s debt during bankruptcy and emerged as the controlling owner when the company reorganized. In 2004–2005, ESL Investments merged Kmart with Sears to create Sears Holdings. Then Sears Holdings steadily declined for more than a decade and filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
Critics argued that:
- valuable real estate and brands were sold off,
- stores were underinvested,
- staffing and maintenance were cut heavily,
- and the company focused too much on extracting asset value instead of modernizing the retail business.

It's vulture capitalism and it's very bad for the economy.

The bromated flour ban is a New York STATE issue, not something being pushed by Zohran Mamdani. The legislation was passed by the state legislature and is awaiting action from Governor Kathy Hochul.

Potassium bromate is already banned in the EU, Canada, China, India, and California because of cancer concerns. This would be something that Robert F. Kennedy Jr would ban, if he actually believed in protecting the citizens from harmful chemicals in food.

I am perfectly fine with a representative who got voted in by a majority of voters,
fulfilling his campaign promises, while serving the Rule of Law and The Constitution.

People are not defined by their religion, but by their actions. If you cared about
The Constitution, you would understand that.

I am not fine with a traitor who attempted a coup, lying his ass off to fool the people into voting for him, while a billionaire is spending hundreds of millions in an illegal bribing campaign, then directly after getting elected starting to misuse his powers, abusing the immunity he got from his political pawns, and doing the exact opposite of everything
he promised and promised not to do.

Whatever you are arguing is irrelevant to the guy in your clip being there.
His claim "I was there, so I know that it's Pelosi's fault!" is BULLSHIT.
He is just parroting the lies of your corrupt partisan media.

But, yes, the calls of Pelosi and Schumer went unanswered for a long time.

According to the official Department of Defense (DoD) logs and congressional investigations, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer called the Pentagon at 3:19 p.m. to frantically demand immediate military backup.
The calls made by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Chuck Schumer, and other congressional leaders to the Pentagon were answered, and the Department of Defense (DoD) did eventually act on them. However, there was a 3.5-hour delay between the time the Capitol perimeter was breached and the time the National Guard actually arrived on the scene.

The delay was caused by the following chain of events:

Political Hesitation Over "Optics": Top Army generals delayed approval because they were intensely worried about the political appearance of sending heavily armed, uniform military forces into the U.S. Capitol, fearing it would look like a military coup or escalate the riot.

Paralyzing Bureaucracy: Rather than issuing an immediate command to move, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy forced the D.C. National Guard to stay on "standby" for over two hours while a rigid, formal tactical operational plan was drafted and routed through the Pentagon chain of command.

Logistical Re-Equipping: The 340 Guardsmen already on the streets of D.C. that morning had been strictly ordered by the Pentagon to remain completely unarmed and handle traffic control. When the crisis hit, these troops had to be recalled to the D.C. Armory, completely re-equipped with riot shields, armor, and gear, and briefed on an entirely new mission before they could deploy.

President Trump did NOT make any calls to order or accelerate the deployment during the attack. The final order to clear the Capitol was pushed forward by Vice President Mike Pence from his secure bunker, and Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller eventually signed the official deployment order at 4:32 p.m., leading to the Guard's arrival at 5:20 p.m.

Basically, it took the National Guard so long to react to an ongoing coup attempt,
because they were afraid that your side would accuse them of a military coup or
that they were forced to create a bloodbath to stop it. What the fuck is their job?

Sure, rules WILL make it harder to make a profit. If you eliminate those rules, it will be easier to make a profit, at least short-term. There is however a REASON for most regulation.

* Businesses must follow truth-in-advertising laws so they cannot deceive customers about what they are buying.
* Businesses must meet federal safety standards for products so they don't sell dangerous or defective items that hurt people.
* Businesses cannot collude with competitors to fix prices because it unfairly destroys competition and drives up costs for regular people.
* Businesses must pay licensing fees to use copyrighted music, software, or designs so they don't steal and profit from another person's work.
* Food and beverage businesses must pass regular health inspections to ensure they don't serve contaminated food that makes the public sick.
* Businesses must securely store customer credit cards and personal info so that hackers cannot steal identities and commit financial fraud.
* Businesses cannot discriminate based on race, gender, or religion when hiring or serving customers so everyone has equal access to jobs and services.
* Businesses must ensure their premises are physically accessible to people with disabilities so no one is excluded from public commerce.
* Businesses must clearly disclose all interest rates and hidden fees when offering customer financing so buyers aren't trapped in predatory debt.
* Skilled workers like barbers, plumbers, and mechanics must maintain state licenses to prove they won't endanger or defraud the public through bad work.

Major Zohran Mamdani is eliminating lots of regulation that is NOT designed to protect Consumers, Workers, Competitors, Innovators, Local communities or The public health, but has skewed to favor large corporations instead. Or they are indeed intended to protect the citizens, but their implementation was very inefficient. He manages to simplify or eliminate regulation, WITHOUT negative effects on the people who regulations should protect.

The Newsmax article focuses entirely on financial relief for supermarkets, failing to mention significant downsides for the environment, public health, workers, and industry innovators. By delaying the transition away from high-potency hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants from 2027 to 2032, the rule change allows super-pollutants that trap thousands of times more heat than carbon dioxide to leak into the atmosphere for an extra five years, worsening the long-term public health impacts of climate change.
Furthermore, the decision actively punishes domestic manufacturers and innovators who already spent billions of dollars to develop eco-friendly alternatives ahead of the original deadline, leaving their investments stranded while foreign competitors advance.
Finally, changing the rules mid-game creates confusion for HVAC technicians and workers trying to manage inconsistent standards, and because the legal supply of legacy chemicals is still shrinking, the delay could actually trigger severe supply shortages and higher repair bills for local businesses.

So, because he was there to speak, he knows that Nancy Pelosi declined security? Nonsense!

Trump had used the term "peacefully" or similar just ONE time.
Trump had used the term "Fight" or variations like "fighting" 20 times.

He is just a stupid parrot and him having been there is irrelevant.

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The Speaker of the House does not have the constitutional or statutory authority to command, deploy, or decline the National Guard. Because Washington, D.C. is not a state, the D.C. National Guard answers directly to the President, who delegates that command to the Secretary of the Army (Ryan McCarthy) and the Secretary of Defense (Christopher Miller).

Capitol security is managed by the Capitol Police Board, which on January 6th consisted of the Capitol Police Chief, the House Sergeant at Arms, and the Senate Sergeant at Arms. While the House Sergeant at Arms reported to Pelosi, the Senate Sergeant at Arms reported to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. There is no evidence in the official DoD or Capitol Police logs that a formal request for 10,000 troops was ever submitted to or blocked by Pelosi or McConnell prior to the event.

How Private Equity Gutted Local Malls: Toys R Us, Joann Fabrics, Red Lobster, Claire's, and More. And then they cal it "investing".
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I hope you get to do it, anytime you are in the mood for it.

Of course it's out of your paycheck, although not on paper.
They have to pay for it somehow and it's not coming out of their profit.
The difference that you don't see, is the difference between you and me.

Using the latest KFF employer benefits data (2025):

Single coverage:
Total annual premium: $9,325
Employee pays ~$1,440 (about 16%)
Employer pays ~ $7,885/year per employee (about 84%)

Family coverage:
Total annual premium: $26,993
Employee pays ~$6,850 (about 25–26%)
Employer pays ~ $20,143/year per employee with family coverage (about 74–75%)

Netherlands (basic insurance):
Average 2025 monthly premium: about Ђ156–Ђ158/month per adult
Annual premium: about Ђ1,870–Ђ1,900/year

Our plan continues, if we switch employer or lose our job.
There are people in the US who are working while having stage 3 cancer,
because they fear getting fired and lose their health insurance.

Supporting one side that is promoting evil isn't unifying.
He is allowing people their thing. He doesn't have to join it.

And other billionaires are supporting anti-woke bills.
How about making laws that cut money out of politics?
Let the actual voter decide what kind of bills they want?
As long as your politicians block that, don't cry when one or a few billionaires
use their money and influence for things you do not like.

The two bills being discussed are:

"Fair and Timely Parole bill"
This would change parole review standards so the parole board gives more weight to a person’s rehabilitation/current risk, rather than focusing heavily on the original crime. Critics say it could make release easier for serious offenders; supporters say it makes parole decisions fairer and based on current public-safety risk.

"Elder Parole bill"
This would allow many incarcerated people above a certain age (commonly framed as 55+) who have served a minimum number of years to become eligible for a parole hearing. It does not automatically free people; it creates eligibility for review. Supporters argue older prisoners have lower recidivism and this addresses lengthy incarceration; opponents argue it could apply to violent offenders.

Calling it "woke" is designed to make people stop thinking.
If they want to push a billionaire donor, they would call it "common sense".
It's all to stop you from thinking and just copy/paste their propaganda.
I fact checked and thought about every link that I posted.

When my headline contains words like "Insider Trading", that's because it literally
and legally is. Why do you think that Trump is pushing laws that make him and his family immune to prosecution for ever?
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Not bullshit, just ideas that favor employers and fuck over employees.
You would think he is a billionaire shareholder, instead of low-income working class
who was almost killed by a system that shits on the working class.

That's not FREE health insurance, it's the most expensive health care system
in the world, paid for out of people's paychecks to enrich the shareholders of
insurance companies.

By letting employers provide employees health insurance, they have leverage
over their employees, which reduces the negotiation power of employees and
restricts the movement of employees to better jobs.
This reduces the competition of employers for working people, resulting in lower pay
and lesser benefits.

Major Zohran Mamdani IS supporting his city and his people.
Celebrating the creation of the state of Israeli has NOTHING to do with that.
Most New Yorkers don't support Israel's Zionism.
That's one of the reasons for why they voted for him.

Major Zohran Mamdani is a progressive Democrat and he is representing democratic, progressive values, which means rejecting Israel's genocide. He is NOT joining a celebration of 'love for Israel', to cuddle the pro-genocide crowd.
By attending that celebration, he would reject all the New Yorkers who do NOT support
the actions of Israel, which is the large majority of Democratic voters and even the large majority of the American people.

U.S.-wide Gallup polling on Israel’s military action in Gaza found:
32% approve
60% disapprove

Zohran Mamdani is doing a terrific job in New York.
He has already solved the $12 billion deficit that he inherited.
He did that, without cutting ANY important services that his people rely on.
He has secured $1.2 billion for the Universal Child Care he promised.
He is going after scummy landlords.
He has fixed 100,000 potholes in his first 100 days.
He is funding public libraries with $31.7 million.
He is supporting small businesses by slashing red tape, reducing fines, and revamping funding.
The city helped mom-and-pop shops avoid more than $6 million in fines and fees through 1,100 advisory visits. This builds on his Executive Order designed to simplify more than 6,000 city regulations and reduce penalty costs.
He launched an $80 million NYC Future Fund, lowering interest rates to 7.5% and reducing minimum loan sizes to
$25,000 to ensure businesses with lower operating revenues can secure funding.
Through Business Express Service Teams (BEST), the city has provided hundreds of
one-on-one consultations and pro bono legal services to help owners bypass bureaucratic hurdles and costly penalties.

If any Republican politician even came close to supporting their constituents like that, you would praise them to high heaven. You can't do that, because none of them are actually supporting their constituents, but they are paying back their wealthy donors for supporting them, by taking from their constituents and giving presents to the wealthy donors.

You can find anything on the internet, but this is what ChatGPT said:
That statement is mostly misleading unless it specifically means U.S. aid related to Ukraine/Eastern Europe.
U.S. foreign assistance to European countries (including Ukraine) has varied a lot, especially since Russia’s 2022 invasion. Ukraine became by far the largest European recipient. In FY2023 alone, Ukraine got about $16.6B in U.S. aid disbursements.
In some years, if you include Ukraine-related military/economic/humanitarian appropriations, total U.S. spending connected to Europe can rise much higher. For example, Ukraine-related appropriations were tens of billions, but not all of that money was physically “sent to Europe” — much was spent in the U.S. on weapons production, replenishing stockpiles, logistics, etc.
No major new Ukraine aid legislation was approved after Trump returned in Jan. 2025, according to CFR’s tracking of U.S. appropriations. Much of what continued was aid already authorized earlier.

Why is trade only making the EU depend on the US? There is a whole lot of goods and services coming from the EU, that you depend on. If the EU stopped buying American products and services, you would not be able to refinance
your Gross debt of about 122–125% of GDP.
Trump has increased the deficit to about 6%. The EU has a rule enforcing all Euro countries to keep their deficit below 3%. The Euro area (eurozone) had
a deficit of 2.9% of GDP in 2025. None of that is because of the US, in fact,
the US made that more difficult.

You want to live in a fact free world. If Trump says inflation is 0%, you will believe it, even if you had to sell stuff to pay for groceries and gas.

Next time another Hitler comes along, would be in YOUR FUCKING COUNTRY.

And your political side would worship him and erect golden statues of him.

We only had a conflict with Russia, because we picked your side after the war.
At no point in time after WWII was the military force of Russia stronger, larger
or better funded than the combined military force of Europe.

Around 2000, the EU states collectively had several times Russia’s defense spending, overwhelmingly superior naval and air power in aggregate. They would have had no chance against us, if they had attacked. Even at the minimum, around 2004, we still spent Ђ110–130 billion per year, while Russia was spending $19–21 billion. That's because the combined GDP of the EU was about ~20 times larger than Russia’s in 2004. They are a huge empty country with a loud mouth, and citizens who are indoctrinated or forced to get blown up for their dictator.
Even Ukraine is now killing them in a 5 to 1 ratio, with NO HELP FROM YOU.

When To Use 'Then' and 'Than':

Than is used in comparisons as in "she is younger than I am" and "he is taller than me". Then is used to talk about time as in "back then, I lived in Idaho," or "we'll have to wait
until then."

When to Use Than:
Use than when you are comparing two people, things, or ideas. It is usually paired with words like more, less, better, or worse.

Example: She runs faster than me.
Example: I would rather have pizza than pasta.

When to Use Then:
Use then when talking about time, a sequence of events (like "next" or "after that"),
or as a result.

Example: We ate dinner and then we watched a movie.
Example: If you finish your chores, then you can go play.
Example: Back then, we didn't have smartphones

Yes, dumb-ass, the Netherlands has a very strong economy. We have companies that have high impact in the world, like ASML, NXP, Besi, Boskalis, SBM Offshore, Damen Shipyards Group, Ayden, ING, Prosus, Unilever, Heineken, Ahold Delhaize, and Shell and Airbus together with other countries. For such a small country, we have a big impact on the world. We basically invented the stock market and were the biggest traders in the world for a few hundred years. We created New York, before the Brits stole it. We have world-renowned universities and we in solidly in the top 3 of biggest foreign investors in the US. We have the second largest harbor in the world, only because Shanghai surpassed it. Still, the Netherlands is a world leader in the planning and management of logistics flows.

Working hard is for stupid people, we work smart. Western Europe has a high living standard because of EFFICIENCY, resulting in a high productivity. We invested our own damn money in the advancement and infrastructure that we have.

The US doesn't give a cent to Europe or European countries. After WWII you sent us Marshall aid, of about $ 13 billion, but that stopped 70 years ago and we paid back 100% of the loan. In 1971, the Netherlands even made an early repayment on the remaining Marshall Plan debts, to support the US dollar during a currency crisis. You are confused by 75 years.

Your contributions to NATO are purely self-serving and intended for world domination. You have military basis in around 80 countries, not to protect them, but to make sure that those countries do your bidding. You start the wars on the other side of the world and then we come to help clean up your mess. Then the first time we face violence directly on our border, from your former worst enemy, which was our enemy too because we picked your side, you are nowhere to be found.

Poland is obviously nervous with Russia at its border. They were a very much a pro-American country, but enthusiasm toward the United States has cooled recently, and opinions are now more mixed than they used to be.
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Calling me 'smug' is projection of the highest order, damn ignorant yankee.
You have no idea what is happening in your own damn(ed) country, let alone what is going on outside your borders. Anything you think you know are carefully designed lies from your corrupt media, to make you serve the destruction of your own democracy and then your own oppression by the Epstein class.

If the kid in the photo lives anywhere near the equator, he will be a refugee in his lifetime,
if he's not killed in the chaos that will be caused by the climate crisis, before his area becomes unfit for human survival for most of the year.

Our friends were visiting family in Pakistan for 3 weeks, a few years back. It was during a hot period that lasted several months. They were inside most of that time and only went out when they went to other people or late at night. During the day, outside was mostly deserted. It's now almost standard for long periods each year. They are about 2000 miles from the equator. In the gulf states, people live indoors for most of the summer.
People are already leaving those areas in big numbers, but wait a few decades and see
a mass exodus from parts of South Asia, the Persian Gulf, coastal West Africa, and Southeast Asia. The economy of those countries cannot sustain that. The rest of the world will be forced to either accept that refugee tidal wave, send them lots of money to survive,
or let them suffer and die, because of a problem that the West created.

Understand that RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 are NOT scenarios that are based on uncertainty in the prediction of the climate, but uncertainty in the prediction of how much the world ACTS to reduce climate change. If we do more, we will achieve the RCP4.5 scenario or better,
and if we do less we will get the RCP8.5 scenario or worse. If we had done nothing, we would be in the SSP5-8.5 scenario right now, which would likely result in substantial and growing destabilization by 2050.

By 2075, large parts of the world are facing chronic heat, water stress, migration crises, repeated food and infrastructure shocks, while many coastal cities are forced to build massive seawalls, elevate infrastructure, or abandon flood-prone neighborhoods due to persistent sea-level rise and coastal flooding.
By 2100, people will face a much harsher planet where many regions are difficult to live in without massive technological support, hundreds of millions of people are affected by rising seas, many coastlines are redrawn by erosion and flooding, major cities spend vast resources defending themselves from the ocean, and some low-lying communities and islands are permanently lost or relocated.

I'm 'out' most weekends, which is why you won't see many comments from me appear during the weekends. I'm too busy then. I'm mostly writing comments during working hours and the time between working and dinner.
I've traveled all over Europe, including Denmark. The other Nordic countries are indeed still on my to-do-list.

Maybe your side of politics is preoccupied with laws about being allowed to walk onto property, but it's not an issue for me. If I am moving around and see a sign 'private property' or something, I just turn around. I have no desire for a law that keeps people of my property, because I never had a problem with people on my property. Why would you be?
Or is this just your fantasy of shooting people speaking, that makes you wanting for a law that allows it, if someone makes the mistake on walking onto your property?

Your country is subsidizing no one and nothing, without a selfish reason for profit or control. Your bloated military budget is NOT intended to protect me, but purely for your own interests of dominating the world. If the Nazis hadn't threatened your power, the US would have never stopped them from taking over all of Europe. Your leaders just understood that there was no limit to the ambition of the Nazi, perceived them as a competing for world domination and only then chose to stop them, before they were too powerful and came for your ass. The only difference between your selfishness then and your selfishness now is that it's now completely short-sighted, because absolute idiots took control. Classic Republicans and even Democrats are just as selfish, but they have a longer term strategy, because they can think ahead more. They understand that having allies and trading partners only strengthens their own self-interests.

There have been several models for a long time, ranging from the best case to the worst case scenario. The warming of the planet is actually following a trend between RCP4.5
and RCP8.5, which is worse than the average of the models and less than the worst.

They call RCP4.5 the “Expensive adaptation world”
And the call RCP8.5 the “Chronic global stress world”

Why many economists think transition to green energy is cheaper than accepting the cost of the damage of a RCP4.5 climate.

RCP8.5 doesn't mean “everyone dies”, but a world where human civilization still exists,
yet operates under chronic environmental stress, persistent instability, and much lower resilience than today.

would likely look something like this:
- deadly heatwaves becoming routine across large regions,
- chronic coastal flooding and gradual retreat from some shorelines,
- repeated food and water crises in vulnerable countries,
- massive biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse,
- rainforest dieback,
- migration pressures involving tens or hundreds of millions of people,
- rising insurance and infrastructure failures,
- worsening inequality between adaptable wealthy regions and vulnerable poorer ones,
- increasing political instability driven by resource stress and repeated disasters.
- rising insurance and infrastructure failures,
- worsening inequality between adaptable wealthy regions and vulnerable poorer ones,
- increasing political instability driven by resource stress and repeated disasters.

That's very fucking bad.
Understand that if we don't do anything it will be WORSE THAN RCP8.5.
Also, warming doesn't stop in 2100. Chain reactions will keep making it worse.
It will probably not be complete extinction, but it will mean that the US will become too hot for human survival.

Places like:
- Canada,
- Northern Russia,
- Scandinavia,
- And southern parts of South America
Would likely remain physically livable even in extreme warming worlds.
There would be not enough living space for the 8 billion people we have now.

Or let them hunt grey squirrels. Is a bit more challenging target too.

I'm still hanging on to one of these, which I got from an aunt a long time ago.
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I haven't used it in 20 years, but it fits in the sideboard with a new AKAI set and a VCR, that I have not used for a long time either. My office would be suited better
with more storage, if I get rid of that stuff, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
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In my previous home, I had these two AKAI sets setup as surround set on my PC, with 4 full-size speakers in a 100 square foot office. The AA-1010L only has 18 W, but those are old Watts, which didn't sound much less powerful than the 120 W
of the newer amplifier. It made the apartment shake to its foundations.

Sure, but you can also have a device of the same size and weight that can do
the same, but also take a picture of that lumber, search for the price of that lumber at another wholesaler, call them to ask if it's in stock, and then move money from your savings account to your checking account to pay for it.

It's just accepting the downsides of the price, having to charge it all the time,
and having to replace it after a few years, because the updates make it sluggish
and run out of juice before the end of the day.

Technical advancements have their downsides, but choosing to ignore them
also means not taking advantage of them.

England Released 15 Small Animals Into a Dead Forest —
8 Months Later Scientists Were Shocked
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Skill beats size. Just be generous and willing to learn
and you will get more chances to learn the skills.
I think that most women recognize effort, if it wasn't a succes the first time.
It's also not your job to bring 100% of the effort to the bed.
Just don't be one of those guys who bring way less than 50%.

When do you need police?
When other people disrespect your life, livelihood and property.

When do you need unions?
When your employers disrespect your life, livelihood and property.

You are supporting a president who is 'defunding' the 'employer police'.
And you think that employees shouldn't organize their own.
That's asking for employers who disrespect the life, livelihood and property
of employees EVEN MORE.

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By the way the slogan 'defund the police' was not about dismantling the police, it was about transferring tasks away from the armed police, including the funds related to those tasks, TOWARDS OTHER specialized public services like mental health responders, social workers, housing support, and crisis intervention teams. The reason is to achieve that many nonviolent social and mental-health crises are handled more safely and effectively by specialized public services, than by armed police trained primarily for enforcement and control.

“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Police are trained for enforcement, so when they handle social crises, they may treat them as threats requiring force, instead of care or service problems, which often result in unnecessary escalation, injury, trauma, or death, including cases where autistic children or people in mental-health crises have been shot and/or killed by police.

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Trump is 'DEFUNDING THE EMPLOYER POLICE'.
Here is a list of 'employer police' damaged by the Trump administration:

National Labor Relations Board
- Leadership removals, quorum disruption
- Current condition: Weakened

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Commissioner firings, budget pressure
- Current condition: Weakened

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Massive staffing cuts, operational freezes
- Current condition: Severely weakened

Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- Budget and staffing reductions
- Current condition: Weakened

Wage and Hour Division
- Reduced enforcement staffing, narrower overtime rules
- Current condition: Weakened

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
- Proposed elimination and consolidation
- Current condition: Most endangered

Mine Safety and Health Administration
- Staffing reductions and slower enforcement concerns
- Current condition: Weakened

Department of Labor
- Broad workforce reductions and hiring freezes
- Current condition: Weakened

Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
- Shift away from systemic discrimination and workplace civil-rights enforcement
- Current condition: Politically reshaped in a way critics argue reduces protections
for workers facing discrimination

Federal Railroad Administration
- Deregulatory and industry-friendly policy direction
- Current condition: Weakened on enforcement priorities

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
- Deregulatory and industry-friendly policy direction
- Current condition: Weakened regulatorily

Securities and Exchange Commission
- More business-friendly enforcement priorities
- Reduced emphasis on aggressive corporate accountability
- Current condition: Less aggressive toward corporations and executives

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The Trump administration is NOT transferring tasks away from these employee protections towards OTHER services, they are JUST damaged or decimated.

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Anecdotal and hearsay. Union jobs pay better than non-union jobs.
If employers treated their employees fairly, you wouldn't have a need for unions.
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Personally, I'm not a member of a union, because my employer treats its employees fairly. My girlfriend is a member of a union, because her employer treats its employees less fairly.
Most employers in the US treat their employees a lot less fairly than my girlfriend's employer.
Therefore, I encourage American employees to be a member of a union.

It's possible that some American unions suck, or have horrible management. If so, find one that is better, or organize your collective union membership to make it better, or join or organize the creation of a new union.

That's some vintage radio-clock. How long have you had that?
When I was young, I had a wind-up alarm clock. Not the one with two bells on it, but it had an internal rattle or something. I almost never used the alarm, I just liked the ticking of it. Then I grew out of it, and I had an clock-radio with bright red LED-numbers, that lit the whole bedroom. I also didn't use the radio alarm a lot. When I eventually did need to set alarms to wake up early, I used my CASIO wrist watch. Then somewhen in the early 90s, I bought the LCD alarm clock that I'm still using; a Junghans Mega Sensor Alarm. only registered users can see external links